A relatively new startup called Hotswap has impressed Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Red McCombs (one of the founders of Clear Channel Communications) enough to get them to invest in the company.
While the company has been around only several months, it has contracts in place with AutoNation Inc. and McComb's Enterprises' chain of auto dealerships to offer sellers of used cars opportunities to put videos online showcasing their vehicles.
What drives all of it is digital compression technology which the founders claim makes regular digtial movie clips mirror high-definition television quality on the Internet.
Luke Thomas, Hotswap chairman enthusiastically says, "All the technology we see on the Internet is 1994 technology. You will see e-commerce take off with the 
advent of high-quality video."
He adds that the fuzzy, grainy looking videos you see on user-generated sites can be completed changed using their technology.
There are a couple things to consider in the comments and technology. First, similar technology is already out there, Move Networks is using it now, among others. We'll start to see the usual battle for market share that any new technology generates.
Thomas' comment that this new technology will cause e-commerce to take off is only partly true. But the true part is significant. The market that higher quality video will serve best is the luxury market, which historically demands the best in pictures or video to showcase products.
Another market I could see this working in is the vanity market. It's interconnected with luxury, but could go beyond it. By vanity I mean anything that is an extension of the uniqueness of a person. If people connect in this way to something, it's important to show it in a quality form.
Finally, as far as markets go, I could see this in some cases being beneficial in the antique and heirloom types of business. While high quality pictures do already serve here, there are a lot of uses I could see for a number of objects that would greatly increase the probability of them selling.
Next post we'll talk about two things I really like that Hotswap is doing we can learn from.
» Internet Video Startup Backed by Apple Co-founder Steve Wozniak - 2 from TheAlphaMarketer
Lessons to LearnContinuing on with the Hotswap story, there are a couple of important things to consider in how they're going about building their business.What I like the best about it is they're creating more than one stream of income... [Read More]
Tracked on: July 28, 2007 2:56 PM | Permalink to Trackback