Joost terminates P2P client

Online video portal Joost will terminate its P2P client this Friday, December 19. The internet TV venture is abandoning its original software application altogether and from now on will concentrate on is web-based platform.

From the beginning Joost was a technology driven venture, launched by the people who also brought Kazaa and Skype to the internet. The original idea was to not only bring a full screen video experience to the viewer, but also to have multiple social networking and recommendation tools.

From the beginning Joost suffered from two disadvantages. First, the specially written P2P software application was constantly updated, requiring users to re-install the software time and time again. Also, the software required a powerful PC or Mac in order to be able to use it. This proved to be an impediment for widespread use.

The second reason for the failure of the concept was the lack of available content and the difficulty in navigating and finding the right programmes. Although Joost announced dozens of content agreements, the service could not compare with other online video ventures.

This week, Joost announced it had added nine independent music labels and aggregators to its ever increasing content library. There are now more than 18,000 music assets – including music videos, interviews and live performances.

Joost has now resorted to a web-based browser interface, but it remains to be seen if the move has come in time. Sites using Adobe Flash are ow among the most popular on the Internet, but Flash also has its built-in problems, especially with long form programming.

Joost started as The Venice Project and raised many expectations, especially since Skype co-founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström were involved. But the TV business is quite different from telephony, as the company soon found out.