Live-streaming app Meerkat is no longer available to download as the company behind the service has decided to put all its resources and effort behind its newest project.
Meerkat quickly grabbed people’s interest when it debuted last year, gathering huge numbers of users and watchers in its earliest days. However, soon after its launch, Twitter introduced its own live-streaming app Periscope, which hurt Meerkat’s growth prospects significantly.
The decision to remove it from the App Store might have only just been announced publicly, but Ben Rubin, CEO of Meerkat’s parent company Life On Air, told TechCrunch that the decision to wind down development work on Meerkat actually came about six months after its launch.
Rubin says that it quickly became obvious that the notion of one-to-many live broadcasts wasn’t a natural fit for most users, and so the company quietly started work on a new service called Houseparty, which launched at the end of last month.
The new app uses a similar premise to Meerkat, in that it involves live-streaming, but instead focuses on bringing a straightforward experience for groups of friends. Quite simply, if the app is open and your friends are also using it, you’ll be thrust into an up to 8-person video call.
“The mission of our company has always been to connect people in the most human way possible while physically apart. Not only do we believe that Houseparty is a better manifestation of that vision, but also the market has shown us that too,” Rubin said.
While Meerkat is no more, Houseparty is available to download on Android and iOS now.
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Are you still using Periscope or other live-streaming apps? Let us know in the comments below!
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.