You might have used Zoopy in the past – be it for user generated videos or to quickly catch up on current happenings, but now Zoopy is refocussing their strategy to mobile. With a new range of applications made for the major mobile platforms, users can quickly access news and entertainment videos on their device of choice. Zoopy is also halting the use of user generated videos, and is instead focussing on self produced Zoopy TV videos. Zoopy runs on a “the world in 90 seconds (or less)” slogan, so they are ideal for quick consumption on mobile devices.

In South Africa we have a mobile penetration rate of about 98%. Over 20 million South Africans own web-capable phones, which serve as their primary point of contact with the internet. For most of these users, who don’t have access to TV, DVDs or other gadgets, it’s also their only access to the entertainment world at large. Their phones deliver an interconnected choice of games, social networks and video. And as feature phones expire and smartphones replace them, mobile entertainment is fast becoming the industry’s leading growth area.

With SA’s focus on mobile broadband, this is perhaps the ideal time for Zoopy to use this new business model. Mobile broadband is in for a lot of competition, with Cell C getting the ball rolling with their recent Speedstick offerings – but we are still waiting for Vodacom and MTN to match that offer. The ideal is of course that these lowering costs also reach normal data bundles, not only dongle focussed packages. If a user uses a data bundle, mobile video becomes a lot more affordable – and I see a lot of new phone contracts are starting to add small data bundles in the deal. Video traffic from mobile phones increased by 60% globally in 2010. A recent Nielsen report showed that 20.3 million people watched mobile video in the US in the first quarter of 2010, spending an average of three and a half hours each.

Zoopy also did a complete redesign of its site, and the results are impressive! I have to say the new theme is a big improvement on the aging blue design of the past. Here at Bandwidthblog we do love infographics – and Zoopy got the guys from Cow Africa in to make a great one – just click the image below to be taken to the full version:

Bandwidth blog’s series of office photos posts takes you inside the hottest internet startups locally and abroad. This week we visit Zoopy.com, an online and mobile social media community. Zoopy made headlines last year when they were acquired by cellular giant Vodacom. Since the acquisition Zoopy has gone from strength to strength – launching a redesign, announcing various media partnerships and producing high quality webisodes shows (some in HD) labeled as Zoopy TV.

Their offices are decorated in true startup style, funky walls, iMacs everywhere and chill areas for employees to relax in – we take you inside:

Props goes out to Zoopy’s CEO, Jason Elk, for sending us the photos.

South African media sharing site Zoopy.com has entered into an international partnership deal with leading online video distribution and analytics service, TubeMogul. Zoopy is the first African company to partner with the Silicon Valley company, alongside media heavyweights such as YouTube, Microsoft, and MySpace.

Under the terms of the deal, Zoopy will be added as a syndication partner on TubeMogul, which allows users to upload a video once and then automatically deploy it to the Web’s top video sites. The partnership forms part of TubeMogul’s growth across the globe, with Zoopy being added to a select list of top video sites.

Brett Wilson, CEO and founder of TubeMogul, comments: “Zoopy provides advertisers and content creators a unique opportunity to reach the African continent, which is obviously exciting.”

Java mobile application

In addition to the partnership with TubeMogul, Zoopy has also released a java application that makes it possible for anyone to easily share videos, photos and audio clips from their mobile phones. The J2ME application, which is about 260KB in size, gives you convenient access to Zoopy’s content, including ZoopyTV, Zoopy’s professionally produced channels covering everything from movie reviews and fashion to current affairs and news.

“People love using their phones to take videos and photos, and Zoopy makes it really easy for them to share it, anytime, anywhere” says Jason Elk, CEO of Zoopy. “With the development of new technologies in this field, we’re making these services accessible to all people with mobile phones. It started with our mobile WAP site and will now grow into a richer experience with our java app.