Quibi is one of those unique attempts at entertainment delivery that never took off. This is just the latest casualty in a long line of failed options. Anyone remember the original Divx format? What about video vinyl records? Laser discs anyone? Sure, those all lasted longer than Quibi did, clocking in at not even a year in operation. It remains to be seen if this short-lived service will be fondly remembered or easily forgotten. Considering most reading this have no clue what it was, I have a feeling I know the answer.
In what will unfortunately will probably be the future of televisions, Quibi originally required holding your phone upright. Later landscape mode was made available.
Unfortunately, a service like this faced a hard-uphill battle considering the Coronavirus outbreak. Basically, the intended audience was not out travelling, riding buses, etc. That means they were not looking for quick, less than 10 minute, chunks of entertainment.
Ah well, at least they could enjoy the content on their televisions, right? No. Quibi only recently, as in shortly before announcing their closure, introduced apps for Apple TV, Fire TV, and Android TV (but no Roku).
Unfortunately, Quibi does not own a lot of the content they streamed. That means the service has extraordinarily little value. There are no patents to buy, no special filming hardware, etc.
The only problem is, I can only think of one show from the service. The one with Anna Kendrick in it. The name? Without Googling it, I have no clue. That could be taken as a cue as to just how popular this platform truly was.
Now excuse me while I continue my collecting Laser Discs with those larger canvas’s for the art off of eBay.
This article was originally published on Gaming on Batteries.
