Mobile users are increasingly turning to their handsets to watch and share videos while they’re on the go. That’s one reason why IAC-owned video site Vimeo is going mobile in a big way with the release of apps for Android, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Microsoft’s Windows Phone marketplaces that will let users upload, share and view videos on their mobile devices. It’s also rolling out an iOS app built specifically with the iPad in mind.
The new mobile apps follow the release of Vimeo’s iPhone app, which was launched last spring. Vimeo already supported mobile devices with an HTML5-friendly website and universal player that were accessible from most modern handsets. And it has a sizable mobile audience with between 10 and 15 percent of its monthly views occurring on mobile devices.
But the new apps will give users more flexibility and features than accessing the site through a mobile browser. In addition to watching videos, users will be able to like, comment on and add videos to their “Watch Later” queue. Users will also easily be able to share those videos with their social graph with built-in sharing support for networks like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and WordPress, as well as through email and SMS. They can also download their own videos from the site into their own camera roll.
More importantly, they’ll be able to upload videos from their mobile devices, which users are increasingly using as their primary photo and handheld video cameras. They will also be able to replace videos and edit any titles, descriptions tags, etc. that they’ve added to their own videos directly through the apps.
According to Joe Schmitt, lead mobile developer at Vimeo, the introduction of new apps to complement its mobile website will give users a better way to access and upload videos while on the go. “We feel that apps we’re giving users are the best way to create a great user experience,” Schmitt said in a phone interview. With mobile becoming ever more important in the video space, that will be a big step forward as Vimeo courts new users.
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