Joost – one of last year’s hottest startups and so far one of this year’s biggest flops – is pulling a 180 in strategy. According to Om Malik, the video service will kill off its desktop client and replace it with a Web version that will utilize a “small plugin that would embed itself in the browser and allow you to grab files using the P2P technologies”
With all due respect to He-Man & Shera, there is no way Joost on the desktop or the webtop can compete with the likes of Hulu, which has thousands of recent episodes of hit shows like The Office, The Daily Show, and House, just to name a few. Considering Hulu is backed by News Corp and NBC Universal, it’s doubtful Joost will be able to do much to improve its catalog either, since Hulu’s huge competitive advantage is its access to content. Making things even worse, Joost’s own investor and partner CBS has many shows available on its website that are nowhere to be found on Joost.