MMS vs 12seconds — videomail wars begin
AT&T supposedly turned on MMS service for iPhones today, enabling video message transmissions. If you’ve got an iPhone with an unlimited data plan, though, there are already apps that remove the need for MMS. 12seconds’ 12mail is my favorite because of its Twitter-like hook: Instead of 140 characters, you get 12 seconds of video limit.
Why 12 seconds? Co-founder Sol Lipman says they started with 10 seconds, but it was always a couple of seconds too short. 15 seconds was too long. Twelve seconds feels just right.
I asked Lipman to compare 12seconds to MMS video:
- 12mail is free, MMS costs money
- MMS does not integrate with your networks on Twitter and Facebook.
- 12mail will work on 3G and Gen 1 iPhones by sending a picture with a twelve second audio overlay. MMS does not support this.
I don’t have any brilliant insights here except that it’s 100% certain that MMS will spawn some immensely popular iPhone app that no one thought of until MMS went live. But I really do think that 12mail could become the people’s choice for video messages. Why? Because knowing all incoming messages will be cut off after 12 seconds makes me enthusiastic about video mail, instead of afraid of it.
Next Story: Routesy, a public transit iPhone app, makes comeback
Previous Story: Is Facebook speeding up while Twitter slows?
About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
-
stefano