The mobile video space is becoming more crowded by the day. Following on from Vine and its six seconds of recording simplicity, and Instagram and its 15 seconds of recording simplicity, comes MixBit. Can this new startup compete with its more established brethren?
MixBit
is a combination of app and website. The app lets smartphone users take short videos (of up to 16 seconds in length) and offers simple editing tools. Up to 256 clips can be stitched together to form videos of up to an hour in length.
The website is where these stitched together videos are published for the world to see, though they can also be shared via Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. There are no filters and no standalone social networking shenanigans, just simple video features.
Where things get interesting is the capacity to take any video shared on the MixBit website and remix it for your own ends. In fact, this is the “principal goal of the service.”
For now the whole thing is anonymous and communal, but the chance to identify yourself and claim ownership of videos is going to be added in the future.
The Y Factor
MixBit is the brainchild of Chad Hurley and Steve Chen, who are best known for creating a little site called YouTube in 2005 before selling it to Google for a hefty $1.65 billion a little over a year later.
There is no question that this connection will help MixBit gain some traction in the space that it wouldn’t have gained otherwise. It has already ensured considerable coverage in the tech press.
The Video App War
There is (at least) a three-way tussle going on in the video app space right now, with Vine, Instagram, and MixBit competing for users. However, while Vine and Instagram are very similar, MixBit offers something different from the competition.
This focus on editing and remixing should ensure MixBit survives for the longterm. The lack of social networking features could actually be a boon rather than a bust for the app, and the website is already looking like it has the potential to draw eyeballs.
Is MixBit another YouTube? No, but it should do nicely on its own without Google money being thrown at it.
[Via The New York Times]
