The long-rumored Web-based Joost player is getting closer to release. Yesterday, two participants in the Industry Standard's prediction market described receiving invitations for a "closed beta" that enables Joost to work in a Web browser, and this morning the company confirmed that a small number of people are testing a "new product." However, the company declined to give more details about the product or the release schedule unless The Industry Standard agreed to refrain from reporting the news until a date determined by the company.
Regular Industry Standard prediction market participant David Kuan said that the new Web-based Joost player renders videos within a browser after a 7.43 MB plugin is installed. Kuan confirmed that it worked in IE 7, but also said there were bugs. He and another user described the test in a comment thread for an Industry Standard prediction that forecast Joost would be forced to announce a Web-based player by November 1. The prediction was made in March, after The Standard noted that Joost's standalone client application was losing ground to Web-based video services such as Hulu and YouTube.
Rumors of a Web-based Joost have been circulating for months. In mid-June, the Silicon Alley Insider said that Joost CEO Mike Volpi stated a Web-based service was weeks away from launch, but the product never materialized over the summer.
More news, commentary, and predictions from The Industry Standard:
- Prediction: Joost will announce a Web-based viewer by November 1, 2008
- Opinion: 10 'Net services that will succeed (and 10 that will probably fail)
- Ian Lamont: Techmeme analysis, part II: 15% of sources account for more than 70% of headlines
- Ian Lamont: The real problem with Google's Blogger service: Neglect
- Jordan Golson: Intel continues the WiMAX/LTE war of words
- Jordan Golson: The TechCrunch50 and DEMO sponsor-off
Comments
Thanks for the credit. Not sure how much of the info was meant to be released (but I had no terms of use or participation to comply with). Well, I had initial connection problems with it but it was probably firewall related. I have had no issues with it working when connection is made from a different location. In fact, I can report that it is working very well indeed (kudos to the Joost folks).
David: Thanks for the comment, and for discussing your experience on The Industry Standard prediction about Joost. My guess if that it's stable enough to distribute to real users for testing, it's not going to be long before an official announcement of the public rollout -- otherwise, the testers and rumor mill will take over the discussion, a situation that Joost surely wants to avoid.
One question that I have about the plugin, however, is that once it is officially released, how often will it need to be updated to continue using Joost?
Ian Lamont
Managing Editor
The Industry Standard
@Ian, sorry. I do not have an answer to your plug-in question. I assume it is subject to issues found that may be browser specific.
hi, so now what happens to the money i put in my account(200Dollars)? Doesnt any one have any self respect? I HOPE THEY ALL BURN IN HELL!
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