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Filed under: Internet, Video, P2P

Joost to give up on global domination, focus on US

Joost
Joost appears to be scaling back its game plan a bit. The Sunday Times reports that the online video platform will focus entirely on distributing content in the US, where it has the largest audience. Up until now, Joost has provided videos globally, although the content you were able to watch was determined by your country of residence.

The company was founded by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis, the founders of Skype. The goal was to give users a standalone application for viewing high quality videos over a peer to peer network, rather than spending all day squinting at YouTube style videos embedded in web pages. But while Joost has managed to sign a few major content partners like CBS and Viacom, you can generally find more up to date content from Hulu or the BBC iPlayer.

Joost is also hardly the only name in the game these days. The company faces competition (if you can call it that) from other online video services including Babelgum, Vuze, VeohTV, and Miro. But there's still one major question that needs to be answered: Does anybody actually use any of these services on a regular basis to watch videos, or are they the sort of programs you download once to check out and then maybe remember to launch every few weeks to see if there's anything new?

Do you actually care if Joost shuts down in the UK and other markets? Would it matter to you if they closed up shop in the US too? Let us know in the comments.

Update: It looks like a spokesperson for Joost denies that the company has any plans to layoff employees or go US-only.

[via Mashable]

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