Hulu to Come to iPhone/Touch Soon

Consumers wanting to take the streaming multimedia giant Hulu into their pocket may be able to do so in a few months.

On Friday, The Business Insider reported that online multimedia-streaming giant Hulu is working on an App for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. According to the site, the application is due to hit the App Store within the next several months, and will stream video content over 3G and Wi-Fi networks. Unfortunately, it's unknown whether consumers will be able to download their favorite clips, movies, and TV shows to watch later; no other information was provided in regards to the application's feature list. However, the App is not exactly breaking news: Alec Baldwin hinted to "portable computing devices" in the excellent Alec in Huluwood Super bowl XLIII commercial (video).

Why would Apple allow a Hulu App in the first place? Wouldn't that compete with the content sold on the App Store? That actually depends on the consumers and their individual tastes. Consumer "A" may enjoy purchasing and downloading movies and TV shows to watch at any time, archiving the files on a DVD, Blu-ray disk or an external hard drive. These videos come without commercials, and can be imported to the iPhone and iPod Touch as long as the devices are registered. Consumer "A" really poses no threat to Apple's revenue, and could even benefit from video streaming Apps.

Consumer "B." on the other hand, may not care about long-term storage, and may not even care about watching four or more commercials placed throughout each video. In a sense, these consumers fit into the "try before you buy" category, streaming an episode of My Name is Earl first before ultimately making a purchase on the App Store. Besides, many videos only remain on Hulu for a limited amount of time, thus preventing potential buyers from falling into the "I'll just stream it whenever I want" mode of thinking. Consumer "B"--and probably even Consumer "A"-- may enjoy an episode to the point of purchasing the file via the Apple Store.

"In some cases, an episode or movie may expire from Hulu," reads Hulu's FAQ. "Streaming clearances can be limited by any number of legal or business agreements that differ from video to video. An episode or movie may expire due to myriad reasons, including music clearances, impending DVD sales and syndication deals, among others. It's disappointing to us when a video must come down. As videos are the heart of our business, we're always working to continue to expand streaming clearances."

Hulu will not be the only streaming video application on Apple's touchy multimedia devices. Recently CBS Interactive launched its TV.com application with full streaming episodes of CSI: NY, NCIS, Star Trek TOS and more with mixed reviews (2 out of 5 stars). Joost, another streaming video App, offers a variety of clips, episodes and movies, but suffers from erroneous playback and mixed reviews (2 out of 5 stars). While YouTube just recently launched its new TV/Film section on the official site, the pre-loaded App only features the normal user-provided content.  

Hopefully, in the coming months, iPhone and iPod Touch consumers will see a low-cost Hulu App that offers the same quality service enjoyed with the online version. Perhaps the service will also offer iPhone and iPod Touch content exclusive to the platform.