Despite problems with buffering, tablets and smartphones are morphing into portable televisions. In fact, Cisco contends that two-thirds of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video by 2017 and, as screens grow and 4G and LTE become more readily available, mobile video viewing will skyrocket.
Sounds great, right? Well, that’s the upside.
The downside is more network congestion and slower download times. Mobile video viewing is a broken process, but one that inmobly is working to fix, starting with today’s launch of PAUL, a free Android app.
“People love watching videos on their phones and tablets, but we all hate slow buffering that stems from overly congested networks,” says Hesham El Gamal, co-founder and president of inmobly. “By changing when videos are downloaded –and shifting some of the activity to off-peak hours– inmobly is setting out to make video viewing faster and easier. PAUL is the first step in that process.”
With PAUL, news junkies, pop culture addicts and sports fans can access must-see videos anywhere, anytime– while avoiding the slow loading process. Pulling in videos from Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, CNN and ESPN ScoreCenter, PAUL preloads content for on-demand viewing.
When a phone or tablet is connected to Wifi, PAUL caches videos, which people can view at their convenience in the apps themselves or through PAUL. For music lovers, PAUL also integrates with Last.fm, providing preloaded playlists from their favorite stations.
To aggregate content from those six initial sources, and to give users what they want when they want it, PAUL’s algorithm monitors user behavior to learn content preferences and to determine the best times to schedule downloads.
Further, inmobly is in the process of building integrations with other popular video content providers and developing a recommendation engine to help individuals discover additional must-watch clips.
Through a series of apps, starting with PAUL, inmobly is tackling  problems typically thought to require much larger, more involved solutions.
Rather than solving problems, such as network congestion, by changing the core of a phone or revamping a network (like industry insiders are prone to do), inmobly’s founders say they are focused on providing simple solutions while delivering an enhanced user experience.
Founded in 2011 by El Gamal and Nayer Wanas, inmobly has received $650,000 in pre-seed funding, led by TechColumbus.
Additionally, inmobly was recognized as a front-runner in the 2012 Silicon Valley Global Tech Symposium.
To learn more about PAUL, or to download the app, visit PAULTheApp.com.
