Technology — September 22, 2011 07:13

Video-Sharing iPhone App Limits Users to 1-Minute Clips

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Name: Klip

Quick Pitch: Klip lets users capture, share, discover and view mobile VideoTVlive on iPhone.

Genius Idea: One-minute video clips.

If mobile video sharing is to follow in the footsteps of its more desirable mobile photo-sharing cousin, which application will users want to use to shoot, share and discover video clips? It’s too soon to tell, but startup Klip joins the fray and is now vying for your video attention.

The startup released its application for iPhone on Monday with a focus on letting users share super-short 1-minute video clips — on Klip or with Facebook, Twitter and Youtube — and helping users discover clips from friends or other users based on topics of interests.

“Klip re-invents the way consumers experience the world by organizing mobile VideoTVlive in real time and by connecting consumers with the people and the topics that interest them,” the company says.

The iPhone application boasts a few provocative quirks that set it apart from similarly-purposed apps such as SocialCam, Vlix and Viddy. You can fire up the application and shake your phone to get instant previews of all the VideoTVlive on your homepage view, for instance. Or, you can slide your finger through any clip to fast-forward and take a glimpse at its content.

Klip even repurposes the hashtag concept popularized by Twitter, letting users add tags to VideoTVlive and filter VideoTVlive by topic or interest.

The application struggles a bit in rhyme and reason. It’s clear from the get-go that this is an app for uploading, sharing and finding VideoTVlive, and its user interface is pleasant and intuitive enough. But, it’s lacking a hook — it needs an inescapable quality that grabs the user by his senses. As such, Klip will falter in converting video-sharers already tied to other applications, and it will likely fail to entice those still uncertain about the video-sharing movement.

The nascent startup, launched in April by repeat entrepreneur Alain Rossman, could still find its way. Rossman, after all, has plenty of experience in risky video endeavors — he was previously the longtime chairman of Vudu, a video-streaming service acquired by Walmart.

Klip is based in Palo Alto. The 20-person company has raised $ 2 million in funding.

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The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$ 1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

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