After hearing so much about Joost and how it will change the way we watch TV, I decided to sign up for it. Couple of days ago i got email from Joost asking me to beta test it. Well i tried it.
My first impression went something like this: cooool. this is nice. Windows popped open went full screen and video was clear. Nice interface, took me while to figure out the navigation, especially to find the power button. I still haven’t found a minimize button. Below are some screen shots:
As soon as it was launched, it played an ad for transformers:
Notice the navigation on all four sides of the screen.
Upon clicking on “My Channels”, see below. I like the menu, pretty slick.
Channel Catalog allows you to choose category. Whatever you feel like watching be it films, documentary, music, sports, etc.
I was able to find “News Radio” and while watching it i noticed this little box on my bottom right corner for “Army” (The sponsor). Box disappeared after few seconds and just like on TV there was a 30 second ad from the sponsor – they have to make money somehow. I did not find the ad that intrusive, it came and disappeared in few seconds. As long they don’t show ads every few mins and interupt my viewing, i’m ok with seeing ads once in a while. It would be really awesome if ads were relevant to whatever program was talking about, that should have great CTR. Also, instead of showing ads randomly if Joost can display ads based on demography of people who are most likely to watch that program, advertisers should see higher return on their investments.
I saw lot of options for international viewers as well – but ads got to be more relevant. This is Internet, should be able to at least guess the demographic of the consumer, also since programs are pre-recorded Joost must find a way to match advertiser with content of the program.
And then Joost crashes on me 🙂 It is in beta so it is completely acceptable, that’s why they call it Beta.
Upon re-launching it, Now if you click on “My Joost” there is a setting called “Widget Menu”- see below:
I think this is awesome. This menu gives lot of options to the users, love the instant messaging and “blog this” capabilities, very nice. And just like Windows sidebar you can move the widgets around on your screen.
One thing i don’t like is it’s obsession with going full screen, it’s kind of annoying. Well, when i went into advanced settings i found great control features. And option that allowed me to uncheck “full screen” box. I also noticed great security features that parents might find useful, such as entering pin.
Other thing that annoyed me quite a bit is it’s navigation, how do you bring it back again and how do you make it disappear? Still can’t figure it out and not so user friendly.
So let’s do SWOT analysis:
Strengths: good video quality, nice interface, web 2.0 feeling
Weaknesses: Navigation, full screen, load time
Opportunities: more quality programs or programs that consumers might enjoy watching, partner with TV networks to put their episodes on Joost, specifically for chatting feature allow user to access their AOL, MSN, yahoo buddy lists (now that’d be cool), show ads relevant to the program
Threats: Lack of choice in programs, other IPTV providers, inability to convince big networks to put quality programs on Joost
I still can’t find minimize button. If you want an invite to Joost, please let me know.
Overall: Not bad, pretty cool.
Tejas
Learn, Have Perspective and Grow 