Orb launched its MyCasting service in November, enabling mobile phone users to view internet videos. The company has now announced an enhancement to the service that allows Orb users to search for internet videos on their mobile devices and enjoy them instantly on their phone’s native video player.
Orb claims that, in contrast to carrier-based options that limit mobile access to closed and/or pre-selected video content, MyCasting gives consumers access to the entire internet, as well as their own media content stored on their home PCs.
Most carriers, like Verizon, have the business model for mobile content all wrong, said Joe Costello, chairman and co-founder of Orb. It shouldn’t be a closed environment; consumers will engage more if they have more choice. Carriers should worry about giving consumers the best possible service and leave content selection up to the customer.
In order to use the service, users log on to their Orb account from their phone’s web browser, select the internet video site they wish to search and type in a search term. The Orb software automatically transcodes the video or audio streams into the appropriate media format, bitrate, and if necessary, screen resolution for the user’s mobile phone.
MyCasting users can also stream media feeds from their home computer to any web-enabled mobile device with a browser and streaming media player by downloading the Orb software to the computer.