qik
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Qik (pronounced 'quick') was a mobile video-sharing and video-messaging app founded in 2006 in a garage by Ramu Sunkara, Bhaskar Roy and Nikolay Abkairov. Its original service let users stream live video from their phones to the internet and record/upload video clips directly from mobile devices. In January 2011 Skype acquired Qik for $150 million, relaunched it in October 2014 as 'Skype Qik', a mobile video-messaging app requiring no account - just a phone number - for Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Earlier backers included Marc Benioff, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz.
02 / qik FAILURE REASONS
Why it shut down
On February 22, 2016, Microsoft (Skype's owner) announced it would retire the Skype Qik app on March 24, 2016, citing low usage - it ranked around #350 in the iOS Social Networking category and #239 in Communications on Google Play, with only 1-5 million Android installs (roughly 100x fewer than Snapchat). Its core features - fast video messages and filters - had been migrated into Skype itself, making the standalone app surplus to requirements. The original Qik service had already been retired on April 30, 2014.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Qik founded in a garage by Ramu Sunkara, Bhaskar Roy and Nikolay Abkairov; mobile live-video streaming and video messaging.
- Funding
Raised $3M Series B (from Marc Benioff, Telesoft, Jingle Networks) plus investments from Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz in September 2008; another ~$5.5M round in mid-2009.
- Acquired by Skype
On January 6, 2011, Skype acquired Qik for $150 million (announced at CES).
- Service transition
The original Qik service was retired on April 30, 2014; relaunched on October 14, 2014 as Skype Qik.
- Shut down
On February 22, 2016, Microsoft announced the Skype Qik app would be retired on March 24, 2016 due to low usage; features were folded into Skype.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / AFTERMATH
Lessons
- Standalone feature apps get absorbed when the platform copies the feature: once Skype integrated Qik's video messaging and filters, the separate app had no reason to exist.
- A $150 million acquisition price doesn't guarantee product survival: acquired products must keep earning their place inside the parent's portfolio.