14 DAY TRIAL // Many companies talk about YouTube's end as if it were something that can be achieved with ease without many efforts. But we should only think about the considerable number of products that were described as YouTube killers and didn't manage to attract the mass media's attention except at launch. Today, a new YouTube challenger appears from India where Reddif launched a similar service with almost the same functions as the popular YouTube. According to Tech2.com, iShare, the recently rolled out video service, aims to offer the young Indians the chance to become famous by publishing clips on the official page.
"The increasing usage of mobile phones with digital cameras has changed the way users consume digital media. With broadband becoming affordable and social networking taking off in India, we believe that iShare will provide users a context to connect and enjoy a more comprehensive multimedia entertainment experience on the internet creating new opportunities for our partners to reach out to their audience," Ajit Balakrishnan Chairman and CEO of Rediff.com said according to Tech2.com.
The main difference between YouTube and iShare is that the Indian service offers a downloadable platform that provides the users with full control over the account. Basically, the customers are able to upload videos, photos and other type of content straight from their desktop in a matter of minutes with a low bandwidth usage.
YouTube was acquired in October 2006 for $1.65 billion and since the acquisition was officially announced, the online video sharing service remained the leader of the category with no powerful rivals able to compete with it. However, a lot of companies aim to make a powerful competition with similar solutions; but until now, no one managed to steal a considerable amount of users from YouTube. Take the example of Sony's eyeVio that was described as YouTube's killer. It is now available only to Japanese users but the media abandoned it for the Google video sharing service.