Created by Layar founder and ex-CEO Raimo Van der Klein, Vinson TV has launched a new service aimed at disrupting the mobile TV industry and making it easier than ever before to bring a quality broadcast experience to devices.
Vinson promises to be the best end-to-end high-performance mobile TV solution, but if its interface is any indication, Vinson may just deliver on its promise with flying colors. The TV app works through a touch-optimized interface that’s packed with features.
Vinson is a white-label app available for iOS devices that promises to deliver live TV and social integration to mobile devices. It’s free to install and all of its features are ready to go — this is no Beta test. However, before you get too excited, keep in mind that Vinson is still lacking partnerships with TV providers. This all means that, for now, your actual viewing choices are very limited.
It comes with a built-in TV guide and a video-on-demand catalog. Just swipe to the left to bring up the TV guide and choose a program that’s currently airing or already aired previously. Or swipe to the right to view the video-on demand catalog, whose content ranges from music videos to short films. And whether you’re watching live TV or video-on-demand, Vinson lets you “time-shift” to any moment in the program. Also featuring social media integration, enabling you to interact with Facebook and Twitter friends about what you’re watching.
CEO Michael Plein explains that he was “not satisfied” with current mobile TV solutions, which he says are “simply not good enough”, offering its own app and a white label solution — which allows companies to build their own versions of the Vinson app without any license fees — designed to simplify the process for broadcasters, content aggregators and distributors.
Mobile TV solutions require customized processes which make costs high. While equally they are often developed with legacy which can make it difficult to develop a quality user experience on mobile when designs become easily out-dated. For example, many older creations do not support swiping and touch gestures.
Vinson offers a cloud-based platform that it is simple to integrate. The company says it can be a turnkey solution while also catering to those that have their own infrastructure or expertise in-house. Equally, the team has used its know-how and two years of product develop to chisel in a series of features.
The creators attended Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this year to bring on broadcasters, content aggregators and content distributors, expanding their currently limited programs. Currently, the app is free to use by broadcasters without any license fees, plus they can request a free branded version of the Vinson app. Each broadcaster channel can be specialized for the users experience and Vinson hopes to develop a targeting advertising service to attract larger companies to the new technology.
