Sony Takes on YouTube with Video-Sharing Site

thefickler writes "According to Reuters, Sony has announced that it will launch a video-sharing site in Japan as part of its 'quiet software revolution'. Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said that the new site will be 'an opportunity to transmit user-generated video anywhere you want to, anytime to anybody, in a protected environment.' The new site, which will be called eyeVio, will be first launched in Japan, although Sony hopes to also launch it overseas should the Japanese version prove a success. It will be free to users, and the idea is that Sony will eventually generate revenue through advertising."

Viva la?

[Manos_Of_Fate]

"This is part of Sony's quiet software revolution," CEO Howard Stringer said at a news conference.

Revolution? Since when did jumping on the internet bandwagon constitute a revolution? Not to mention that anything that involves a press release isn't really that quiet...

eyeVio?

[pixelpusher220]

oy, not only will the service absolutely suck, the name is ridiculous. How much money did they pay a focus group for that?

How about a better name

UsTube

or

MeTube

Just so it's crystal clear this is an also ran to the big player in the space and an attempt to take the YOU out of the experience.

Besides, exactly why does *user generated* content need protection?

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[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

"protected environment"?

[v1]

translation: "... with DRM up the wazoo"

(collary: "viewable only with windows vista")

Another 'quiet software revolution' ?

[Anonymous Coward]

After their last kick at a 'quiet software' [wikipedia.org], you'd think they wouldn't want to go there.

Hardly a surprise (not-invented-here-syndrome)

[Lead Butthead]

Looking at the history of Sony products, it has never been a big fan of interoperability as evident by Beta, Memory Stick, UMD, BlueRay, etc. Is it any surprise it's going do its own thing AGAIN?

Just what I wanted

[Das Auge]

A video sharing site from a company known for DRM and shitting on its customers!

Yeah...

Re:So

[Hennell]

Its better for them because Google doesn't make money off of it, Sony does. Of course the advantage to the user is less obvious. That side of things seems to get mysteriously lost when companies plan these things, once they know how their money is coming they are happy. Some companies seem to think just because they have something new with x and y feature people will flock to it.
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I'm not wasting time, I'm rehearsing my retirement
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It's a portal to your gadgets

[sectionboy]

Given Sony's background at consumer electronics, it won't be surprising if they put a direct link on their PSP, PS3, cell phone... anything has network capability. Basically, you edit and upload on your pc, you watch it on your gadgets. IMHO, that's a viable plan to take on youtube.

Re:Too late

[memeplex]

Point well taken. Some site may eclipse YouTube down the road, as Google has Yahoo. But just watch any late-night TV show these days. "Already on YouTube," or "The Biggest thing on YouTube" flows from the hosts' mouths effortlessly. It leaps to mind because, as in politics, name recognition is everything. My mom recently asked me how to "log on to YouTube" after her girlfriend wanted to show her a video of her cat chasing a string or something. The Mom Test almost never fails me when it comes to cultural phenomena.

Another Sony-only system?

[NeutronCowboy]

Other people touched on it already, but I'll repeat it anyway: this is just another attempt by Sony to create the Sony-net, where only Sony systems (playstations) can connect to it, and where Sony has complete control over what is shown and how. Here's the key portion of the story: "We believe there's a need for a clean and safe place where companies can place their advertisements". This is how the business model will work:
- Companies will pay Sony to play their latest ads, trailers, clips, show excerpts, etc.
- Users will pay Companies (and Sony) to watch ads, trailers, clips, show excerpts, full shows, movies, songs, etc.
- There will be cheap pay-per-view stuff, and expensive full downloads-to-own (complete with heavy duty DRM).
- There will be some user-generated stuff, but it will come from people with a Sony passport equivalent and who can't be arsed to upload stuff to YouTube.

I'm thinking it will be a cross between XBox Live, iTunes and YouTube. The YouTube connection is there to generate buzz (hah! I'm surprised there was no mentioning of the word 'viral' in the story), the XBox Live model is there because Sony sees how this is a money-press for MS, and iTunes is there because everyone's drooling over its market penetration. Except it will combine the sucky aspects of all its components and make them worse: paying for ads in XBox Live (I'm still amazed that MS pulled off that trick), DRM in iTunes and crap content in YouTube.

Could it work? Sure could. Except that I haven't seen anything that tells me that Sony has moved away from its holy grail: to completely lock its users into an all-Sony all the time world. Which means that the DRM will be unwieldy, the network too small and the content too expensive to generate much inroads against the established powers. At least Sony isn't hailing this again as the next coming of YouTube... maybe it has learned after all.