SkyFire flees iTunes store Pre-processing mobile browser SkyFire has been pulled from the iTunes app store after only five hours of offering access to streamed video content, because it's just too popular to cope. SkyFire routes traffic through its own servers, modifying the content to suit the mobile device on which it's being run - on the iPhone that …
Seems to me like somebody didn't do their homework on the business front. Their servers have to keep on doing work for their customers forever(ish) - but they only charge their customer once upfront. The two just don't add up together.
Sure, from a technical and user experience point of view this was a much needed solution - but financially they seem to have forgotten to think it through.
Their revenue stream could be solved by using Apples In-App purchasing.
Original Purchase gives 1 month of usage. After that, buy an in-app purchase to unlock another months worth, or similar.
Yes, some people woukld stop using it, but they've already shown they're willing to buy for Flash on the iPhone, so it's not that much of a leap.
Actually, it's a hint that people want to watch video. The fact that they are encoded in Flash is immaterial to them, for they keep on buying iPhones and such.
This is more a hint for all those sites offering Flash video that perhaps it's time to expand their reach by offering non-Flash video for all those video-hungry users without Flash.
As the story suggests, there's no money to be made in offering server-side work-arounds to the Flash limitation.
-dZ.
Surely this goes against the Law of Jobs as it involves converting something he hates (i.e. someone else's technology that he can't control) into something he doesn't?
Given the existing rule about converting code, I'm surprised he hasn't done the same yet on content and ruled that all content must be created at source according to Apple standards using only technology that he approves of.
if it's a server problem it should be "sold out" on the Android marketplace too. Is it?
Sounds like a marketing scam, just look at all the free publicity they're getting. First app to have sold out..
Their business model seems to point to transcoded "partner" content (eg ads) showing up in a toolbar eventually.. so not that bad.
I think some companies would gladly pay not to have to redo their Flash code using the tool that's in fashion this week. In the past the similar services were offered for HTML to "mobile enhanced" translation (BA comes to mind).
So people have made money with far worse business plans.
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