Joost Gaining Ground Among iPhone, iPod Touch Users

As further evidence of its increasing popularity among iPhone and iPod touch users and the rise in IPTV (News - Alert) services, Joost today announced its free app has been downloaded more than one million times from Apple's (News - Alert) App Store.

 

Launched last November, the Joost (pronounced "juiced") app was created by the founders of Skype and Kazaa, Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis. 

For the past two years, Joost used peer-to-peer TV technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player. At the end of 2008, it switched to a Flash-based Web player instead.

A new version of the Joost application was released earlier this month to give users enhanced usability and stability for a more streamlined interface and better overall performance.

 

When the Joost app first came out for the iPhone (News - Alert), Technology Marketing Corporation President, Rich Tehrani, wrote in his blog, “It is ironic that Joost has beaten Skype to the iPhone. There are already a number of VoIP competitors on the iPhone and one would imagine with the resources available to eBay, Skype (News - Alert) would be first.”

 

According to Joost CEO Mike Volpi, the application has gained popularity because of the increasing need for people to be entertained, whether they are waiting in line at a store or sitting on an airplane. The Joost app gives iPhone and iPod touch users a way to watch their favorite videos and shows without a TV or PC.

 

"We're continuing to innovate with this application and other devices in order to provide a complete premium entertainment experiment for users, content partners and advertisers," explained Volpi.

 

One major benefit of the ad-supported Joost iPhone app is that it is free to all users. Some of the companies currently promoting their services on the app include the Canadian Tourism Commission through OMD Vancouver and the Macintosh game company Pangea Software.

 

Brian Greenstone, owner of Pangea Software, said that his company is always looking for ways to get iPhone users interested in their video games, and Joost helps them achieve this goal.

 

"Joost provides us with a unique proposition: we can show active iPhone users what our games are like, and after watching our video ad, they can download and start playing our games right away or return to viewing the video they have selected,” stated Greenstone.

 

All of the video on Joost is professionally produced and streams on-demand to people all over the globe for free in a high-quality format. Joost currently has more than 57,000 program elements, including more than 400 television series and 1,200 movie and short film titles, and 18,000 music videos.