Quibi to add direct sharing of clips to social media apps and more

Quibi arrived for iPhone and Android last week with a 90-day free trial and a 1-year Free subscription for T-Mobile customers. Quibi seemed to launch a mobile only video service at exactly the wrong time and Jeffrey Katzenburg attributes their lack luster numbers directly to the Coronavirus. Quibi currently has 3.5 million app downloads and 1.3 million active users, Quibi says.

Quibi is working on new features to improve thier situation including one that will fix one of the apps major flaws. Netflix and Disney+ have some wildly successful shows, not only because the content is good, but because users can share clips, images and memes which generates a lot of buzz around a show. Quibi launched without the ability to screenshot its content on phones and without a desktop app, users had to use another phone to record clips using another device with a camera. Realizing their error, Quibi is moving to add a feature that would enable users to directly share clips to social media platforms directly from within the Quibi app. There is no ETA on this feature right now.

“There are a whole bunch of things we have now seen in the product that we thought we got mostly right, but now that there are hundreds of people on there using it, you go, Uh-oh, we didn’t see that.”

Jeff Katzenburg

A feature coming to Quibi’s iOS app this week is the ability to stream shows and “movies-in-chapters” on TV screens. There are no additional details given on how this will be pulled off, we would imagine they would use AirPlay to pull this off and Android users may eventually get Chromecast support. Quibi CEO Meg Whitman admitted that Quibi was going to make it to larger screens in the future but the Pandemic is now making it one of their top priorities given that people are at home now and not on the go with their mobile phones getting a majority of thier attention.

Related Reading: Quibi Stories

Quibi Overview

The service is from the mind of Jeffery Katzenberg and former HP CEO Meg Whitman. It was designed specifically for smartphones and the shows are like movies that you consume in small 10 minute or less portions. After spending $1 Billion on shows and their stars we will see if people really want to stare at their small screens at home during the pandemic or opt for larger ones.

Since it was designed for smartphones their are no other apps available not even a web app. If you are willing to watch video on your phone when you laptop, tablet and TV are nearby then checkout the show lineup below.

One of the neat tricks that app has up its sleeve is the ability to play the content in either landscape or portrait. It seems to handle the rotating well, it even reconfigured the credits for the orientation. The rotating of your phone can sometime reveal areas of the shot not seen in one orientation, so you might find yourself with a pop socket rotating your phone during the shows.

T-Mobile customers will be able to trial Quibi for 1 year.

There are a few glaring omissions we need to point out:

• No user profiles like Netflix
• Only on stream at a time
• Just phone apps, no TV, Laptop, Tablet apps

The price for the service is $4.99 (with Ads) or $7.99 (Ad-free). The price seems high considering the only way to enjoy the content is on one phone at a time. Might be worth trying for 90-days though.

Source: Digital Trends