Brightcove Kills App Cloud Service

Brightcove, a provider of online video management services, said Wednesday it will discontinue its App Cloud platform designed to provide a “write once, deploy many” capability for video providers to publish apps across different device platforms.

Instead, the company said it will “accelerate investment” in its native player software development kits.

Brightcove said it will continue to operate App Cloud for existing customers through June 2014. The company introduced App Cloud in May 2011; initial customers included A+E Networks.

The new native player software development kits (SDKs) for Apple iOS and Google Android devices, according to Brightcove, will let premium video publishers deliver apps that integrate with the third-party services required for video monetization.

The Brightcove SDKs and next-generation player architecture have been integrated with services including: Adobe SiteCatalyst, Adobe Pass, Akamai Media Analytics, comScore Media Metrix, FreeWheel, Google DoubleClick for Publishers, Nielsen VideoCensus and Google Widevine. The native player SDKs work with the Brightcove Video Cloud Media API, as well as with other online video platforms.

The native player SDKs for iOS and Android devices are available now to Pro and Enterprise edition Brightcove Video Cloud customers.

“The mobile app development marketplace is emerging and dynamic, and we have learned a great deal from our customers and prospects as a direct result of ramping our App Cloud efforts over the last 18 months,” Brightcove president and chief operating officer David Mendels said in a statement. “By focusing our increased investments on our native player SDKs, we will be able to innovate more rapidly to solve the complex challenges of multi-platform video app development and leverage our leadership position in what we believe is a fast-growing multi-billion dollar market opportunity.”

Brightcove last month said CEO and founder Jeremy Allaire will relinquish the chief executive role at the end of the first quarter of 2013, when Mendels will become CEO.