A Qik Look at the New World of Smartphone Video

A QIK LOOK AT THE NEW WORLD OF SMARTPHONE VIDEO by Scott Budman

If you’re a tech startup these days, you want to be on millions of smartphones. If you’re a small company that helps you shoot video with your smartphone, you want to be on the next generation, super-sexy, super fast, HTC Evo phone. Just unveiled at the CTIA Show, the Evo has the smartphone world buzzing about something besides the iPhone for the first time in a long time.

Here’s a sneak peek at how it works: www.qik.com/budman

And that small company helping you shoot video? That would be Qik of Redwood City, Calif.. And after toiling away to get their service (and their app) uploaded onto as many phones as possible, Qik just hit the jackpot: It will be built into every Evo 4G phone, as soon as it’s released.

As someone who uses Qik regularly (we here at NBC Bay Area load the video into our web stories), this could really change things. By the time the next generation smartphones come around, many of us will be used to shooting video with our phones. To show the in-laws, to social network, and to get a jump on traditional news crews. Qik, while still working out some of the startup bumps, works really well for this kind of stuff. It’s easy to use, easy to stream to the web, and is available on a lot of phones.

There are several companies jumping into the live streaming market. As cell phone sales, skills, and speed all take off, Qik’s early build-in to the 4G market gives it an advantage. The service is already one of those cool things we (you know, people like me and Ashton Kutcher) like to show off and evangelize. Will the fact that it’s getting easier to get affect your next smartphone purchase? We know a couple dozen people in Redwood City who hope so.

[For other Scott Budman tech stories, please visit www.nbcbayarea.com]