Mobile video news is moving closer to realization from The Associated Press (AP), officials of the wire service and its technology partners announced.
“The Mobile News Network will provide a national platform for smartphone users to get local content from brands they trust. Members can participate by providing local news that will appear alongside their logos. The network also offers a new outlet for members to sell local advertising to the mobile audience,” said AP CEO and President Tom Curley, at the organization’s annual meeting two weeks ago.
Last week, Verve Wireless disclosed its involvement for the basic publishing technology, and today Transpera said it will supply the video translation into mobile browser formats.
“Verve effectively is the text and the photos and the overall content management, while Transpera is the video asset provider,” explained Jeffrey Litvack, global product development director at the AP. “What we’re launching with is a Web-based application… typically 1- to 3-minute stories,” he said.
The network will launch later this quarter, and then the AP will disclose its future plans, Litvack said. The video news presentation will be similar to what’s currently available at video.ap.org, he added.
Verve and Transpera are both led by former newsmen. Verve CEO Art Howe won a Pulitzer Prize at the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Transpera CEO Frank Barbieri was a photojournalist, according to those companies’ Websites.
The video clips will not contain any digital rights management, so users can save and forward them via SMS, Barbieri said. There also is a search feature, but Transpera is not yet ready to talk about its future plans. “I think we’ve barely scratched the surface with mobile advertising,” he noted. “The phone in everyone’s hand is the best social network out there.”
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