Qik
Encyclopedia
Qik is a mobile live video streaming and two-way video conferencing application that allows users to stream live video from their cell phones to the internet. Qik enables users to record and upload video directly from supported cell phones. Qik, a Silicon Valley
startup
, launched its alpha version in December 2007 and went into public beta in July 2008.
As of April 2009, Qik supports about 140 cell phones for its software. Qik videos can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and many other social network sites.
On April 2009, Qik was the first mobile video service to support Facebook Connect. It allows Qik users to automatically post videos directly to their video collection or wall and does not require them to install additional Facebook applications.
The Company's headquarters is located in Redwood City, California. Qik has another office in Zelenograd
, Moscow, Russia.
It was announced on January 6, 2011, at CES
, that Skype had acquired Qik for a sum of $150 million.
In April 2008, Qik received $3 million in Series B funding from Marc Benioff
(Salesforce.com
), Arjun Gupta
(Telesoft Partners) and George Garrick (Jingle Networks). In September 2008, a month after its beta release, Qik received an undisclosed amount of investments from Netscape
veterans Marc Andreessen
and Ben Horowitz
. Both have agreed to serve as board advisers on Qik.
In mid-2009 Qik received another round of funding under $5.5 million with Quest Venture Partners, Venture Partners and some private investors.
January 2011 Skype's acquisition of Qik
May 2011 Microsoft's acquisition of Skype
, 12seconds.tv, YouTube, Blogger
,
Seesmic
, Tumblr
, and WordPress
.
It also enables users to share their videos manually to websites like Digg
, StumbleUpon
, Del.icio.us
, MySpace, Technorati
, Facebook, Ovi by Nokia and WordPress
. Qik videos do have embedded links which allows users to embed Qik videos onto their personal website. Qik has a feature to embed the channel on a user's website so that the user will be streaming real time on their website as well.
. It is currently available from the Android Market. In addition to the HTC Evo 4G
, Qik two-way video chat is available in the United States on the Samsung Epic 4G as of August 1, 2010 through Sprint, and the MyTouch 4g as of November 3, 2010 through T-Mobile.
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
startup
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
, launched its alpha version in December 2007 and went into public beta in July 2008.
As of April 2009, Qik supports about 140 cell phones for its software. Qik videos can be shared via Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and many other social network sites.
On April 2009, Qik was the first mobile video service to support Facebook Connect. It allows Qik users to automatically post videos directly to their video collection or wall and does not require them to install additional Facebook applications.
The Company's headquarters is located in Redwood City, California. Qik has another office in Zelenograd
Zelenograd
Zelenograd is a city, which, along with the territories and settlements under its jurisdiction, forms one of the administrative okrugs of Moscow - Zelenograd Administrative Okrug...
, Moscow, Russia.
It was announced on January 6, 2011, at CES
Consumer Electronics Show
The International Consumer Electronics Show is a major technology-related trade show held each January in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. Not open to the public, the Consumer Electronics Association-sponsored show typically hosts previews of products and new...
, that Skype had acquired Qik for a sum of $150 million.
History
Qik was founded by Ramu Sunkara, Bhaskar Roy and Nikolay Abkairov in 2007.In April 2008, Qik received $3 million in Series B funding from Marc Benioff
Marc Benioff
Marc Russell Benioff is Chairman & CEO of salesforce.com, a cloud computing company.Benioff started salesforce.com in March 1999 in a rented San Francisco apartment and defined its mission as The End of Software...
(Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com
Salesforce.com is an enterprise cloud computing company headquartered in San Francisco that distributes business software on a subscription basis. Salesforce.com hosts the applications off-site...
), Arjun Gupta
Arjun Gupta
Arjun Gupta is the Founder and Managing Director of TeleSoft Partners, a special situations venture capital firm founded in 1996. TeleSoft provides value added capital for Technology, Communications companies and companies in the Energy Value Chain...
(Telesoft Partners) and George Garrick (Jingle Networks). In September 2008, a month after its beta release, Qik received an undisclosed amount of investments from Netscape
Netscape
Netscape Communications is a US computer services company, best known for Netscape Navigator, its web browser. When it was an independent company, its headquarters were in Mountain View, California...
veterans Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen
Marc Andreessen is an American entrepreneur, investor, software engineer, and multi-millionaire best known as co-author of Mosaic, the first widely-used web browser, and co-founder of Netscape Communications Corporation. He founded and later sold the software company Opsware to Hewlett-Packard...
and Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz
Ben Horowitz is a high technology entrepreneur and investor. He is best known for co-founding and running the enterprise software company Opsware. In July 2007, Horowitz sold Opsware to Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in cash...
. Both have agreed to serve as board advisers on Qik.
In mid-2009 Qik received another round of funding under $5.5 million with Quest Venture Partners, Venture Partners and some private investors.
January 2011 Skype's acquisition of Qik
May 2011 Microsoft's acquisition of Skype
Integration links
Qik enables the user to upload videos immediately on Ovi Share, Facebook, Twitter, LiveStreamLivestream
Livestream, formerly known as Mogulus, is a live streaming video platform that allows users to view and broadcast video content using a camera and a computer through the internet...
, 12seconds.tv, YouTube, Blogger
Blogger (service)
Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was created by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish...
,
Seesmic
Seesmic
Seesmic is a suite of freeware web, mobile, and desktop applications which allow users to simultaneously manage user accounts for multiple social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter....
, Tumblr
Tumblr
Tumblr is a website and microblogging platform that allows users to post text, images, videos, links, quotes and audio to their tumblelog, a short-form blog. Users can follow other users, or choose to make their tumblelog private. The service emphasizes ease of use. The site ranks as the 10th...
, and WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
.
It also enables users to share their videos manually to websites like Digg
Digg
Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...
, StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users. Its features allow users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos that are personalized to their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles.Toolbar versions exist for...
, Del.icio.us
Del.icio.us
Delicious is a social bookmarking web service for storing, sharing, and discovering web bookmarks. The site was founded by Joshua Schachter in 2003 and acquired by Yahoo! in 2005, and by the end of 2008, the service claimed more than 5.3 million users and 180 million unique bookmarked URLs...
, MySpace, Technorati
Technorati
Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. By June 2008, Technorati was indexing 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media...
, Facebook, Ovi by Nokia and WordPress
WordPress
WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and publishing platform powered by PHP and MySQL. It is often customized into a content management system . It has many features including a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by over 14.7% of Alexa Internet's "top 1...
. Qik videos do have embedded links which allows users to embed Qik videos onto their personal website. Qik has a feature to embed the channel on a user's website so that the user will be streaming real time on their website as well.
iPhone app
In mid August 2009, Qik released an application for the App Store. This application allows the user to upload videos from the Camera Roll. It previously was't Live streaming as uploading of the video only began when the streaming had stopped. However, later versions added support for live streaming, and as of June 2011, the iPhone app still does live streaming to the internet and has a completely redesigned UI that seamlessly integrates video chat, video mail, video sharing, and video recording. At one point is was in the top 25 free apps in the Apple app store.Android app
Qik announced the first ever Android live streaming client on June 4, 2010 with the launch of the HTC Evo 4GHTC Evo 4G
The HTC Evo 4G is a smartphone developed by HTC Corporation and marketed as Sprint's flagship Android smartphone, running on its WiMAX network...
. It is currently available from the Android Market. In addition to the HTC Evo 4G
HTC Evo 4G
The HTC Evo 4G is a smartphone developed by HTC Corporation and marketed as Sprint's flagship Android smartphone, running on its WiMAX network...
, Qik two-way video chat is available in the United States on the Samsung Epic 4G as of August 1, 2010 through Sprint, and the MyTouch 4g as of November 3, 2010 through T-Mobile.
Awards and recognition
- Winner of Laptop Magazine Mobile Maverick Award.
- Winner of the Webby Award in the Best Use of Mobile Video category for the 13th Annual Webby Awards.
- Qik recognized as #2 Most Innovative Startup at Telecom Council.
- Qik is selected as the 10 Web Sites That Will Matter in 2009.
- Qik is voted #2 Mobile Application in Mashable's Bloggers Choice Open Web Awards.
- Top 10 Consumer Web Apps of 2008.
- Voted No. 2 Startup in Launch Pad.
- Listed as top 15 most Fierce Online Video Movers and Shakers.
- Featured as a must have applications For Nokia N95 and Other Nokia Smartphones.
- Qik - Application of the week on Forum Nokia.
- 10 Best Free S60 Applications For Your Symbian Device.
- Qik is listed as the Top Ten startups to watch by Technology Review.
- Qik selected amongst the Top 15 Mobile Applications by Venture Beats.
- Qik Named Amongst the Top 100 AlwaysOn OnHollywood 100.
- Qik was named as the top 10 apps to have for your Symbian S60 phone.