Cloud-based video encoding provider Encoding.com, has launched a one-step video encoding presets solution to meet the specific video requirements for all popular mobile phones. Its Mobile Made Easy preset, together with its existing iPhone and iPhone streaming 
presets, now makes encoding for more than 80 percent of the smart phone market as straight forward as clicking a button.
"The industry is rapidly changing, whether it be technology, M&A... it's unbelievable right now," said Encoding.com President Jeff Malkin. "Everyday, we're asked by customers or potential customers 'How do I make my video available for all mobile formats?'"
It's a great question; the variability of the different mobile platforms, various specifications on each device, and a lack of standards makes it a very complex answer, and encoding video for a variety of mobile devices is something most businesses aren't set up to do.
"A great example is iPhone streaming, it's hell," said Malkin. "No one wants to do it in-house at scale. We've set it up so there's a single button for every mobile platform, BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Samsung and Nokia."
Malkin said Encoding.com, which counts among its 1,000 business customers PBS News Hour, clothing company Hurley, and the news landed Nature Education (see this release), developed the new presets as customer demand for them grew.
"We're very customer driven with features... we tend not to build features that won't get used, we heard from a lot of customers that they wanted this, and we saw it as a great opportunity," he said. "iPhone video has really exploded the mobile video market, before that there just wasn't a lot of mobile video being encoded."
The last six months, he said, has been predominantly iPhone and iPad encoding, but in the last two months Android, and even BlackBerry encoding has picked up dramatically.
Malkin says he sees the mobile video market continuing to grow dramatically, especially overseas where mobile phones are more pervasive than laptops. He said about 20 percent of Encoding.com's customers are based overseas, a number that continues to grow without any marketing focused on it.
"It's all been inbound," he said.
The growth of the mobile market overall, he said, has made Encoding.com attractive to companies he previously wouldn't have even approached.
"A lot of the big media companies invest a lot in their own infrastructure and in their encoding capabilities, but they didn't invest a lot in their http streaming, for example, because it didn't exist. So, suddenly we're being approached by PBS, and Fox, and ABC news primarily for mobile. It's been a great opportunity for us to attract much bigger companies. It's a great foot in the door for us for Web video as well.
"The market's growing faster than all of us are growing business; it's good news for all."
For more:
- see this release
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