MySpace brings its video catalogue to mobile

Move over YouTube. MySpace lovers can now access video from the social-networking monster on their handsets. MySpace, along with video technology vendor RipCode, announced that MySpace mobile users can view all MySpace video content on compatible phones.
“Video is a natural next step for us in mobile,” said John Faith, VP and general manager of Mobile for MySpace, available at m.myspace.com. “MySpace will continue to grow our video library as we increase delivery channels in order to keep pace with our users’ accelerating desire for video consumption.”
Though MySpace mobile video will be rolled out globally, the service will only be available on select RTSP-streaming enabled mobile devices. This means Apple Inc.’s 3G iPhone, which supports progressive downloads, will be left out. But, because the videos are also streaming, users won’t be forced to sit and wait for enough of the video to be downloaded in order to start watching. Compatible devices for MySpace mobile video include the BlackBerry Bold, Palm Inc. Centro, Motorola Inc. Q9, LG Electronic Co. Ltd. Voyager, Nokia Corp. N95 and the Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. Instinct.
MySpace said viewing works in an on-demand format, eliminating the need to store videos in multiple places, which will end up saving hardware space and energy.
Video sharing through social networking sites seems to be growing in popularity. Sprint Nextel Corp. recently announced an agreement with VeriSign Inc. to allow customers to send video and photos from their handsets to social media networks such as MySpace.
YouTube moved its entire video catalogue to mobile earlier this year.