Joost seems to heading ever closer to death. It’s refocusing on becoming a white label video provider, is letting go of most of its staff, and has lost Mike Volpi as CEO. Less than three years after being founded, the Joost story looks set to come to an end fairly soon.

Everything In Place

Joost seemed to have every chance of succeeding when it launched as The Venice Project in October of 2006. Early hype made it a much in demand start-up, with everyone wanting to test the new high quality, on-demand video streaming service out. Which they did in their droves thanks to an invite-only beta.

The funding was also there in place, with $45 million raised from some big names including Sequoia Capital, Index Ventures, Viacom, and CBS. It was Hulu before Hulu was even a twinkle in its shareholders eyes. Success seemed guaranteed but clearly nothing is guaranteed in the world of technology.

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Joost, once the darling of the burgeoning online video market, could be about to evolve into something altogether less exciting. There are reports that the company is shopping itself around to cable companies as being a possible ready-made online video solution.

An Exciting Launch

Joost launched in beta form (as The Venice Project) in 2006, and soon became one of the most-wanted apps by anyone interested in online video. One million people signed up to use the service within a year and then it finally launched at the end of 2007.

I remember those heady days when the invites to try out Joost were like gold-dust. Having finally got one, I tried the service out, was impressed with it, but had to stop using it due to it slowing down my computer a great deal. If there had been more quality programming available then maybe I would have persevered, but there wasn’t, so I got rid of the desktop app pretty quickly.

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It’s looking as though mobile television is going to grow exponentially over the next few years, with faster and more numerous connections, and more devices capable of streaming video. TV.com clearly wants in on the ground level, and has already started its push.

Hulu Vs. Joost Vs. TV.com

Hulu and Joost were once the two big online video portals battling it out for the hearts and minds of viewers. But Joost has fallen by the wayside of late, a victim of not having enough premium content regularly airing. The switch to being browser-based has helped, but not enough to keep it buzzworthy and in the news.

The new battle seems to be between Hulu and TV.com, a relatively new entry into he video portal market after evolving from being a more community-based affair. The two sites have traded blows recently, with Hulu removing its content from TV.com after the former realized the latter could be stiff competition.

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2008 has now seamlessly morphed into 2009 and we’re all a year older, and maybe even a year wiser. But what happened in the world of Internet television over the past 12 months?

Here are my highlights of 2008 in the world of Web TV, with the two or three most fascinating or biggest stories from each month of the year. I wonder if 2009 will hold equal delights?

January

The year began with speculation as to whether Joost would survive the year. And despite a dodgy economy and bumps along the way, it has managed it. Meanwhile, there was an intriguing story concerning how BitTorrent wasn’t being used just by pirates to swap illegal wares.

February

Blu-ray finally won the battle of the high-definition formats but would it really matter in the end when digital downloads were surely the future? Quarterlife made its NBC TV debut and unfortunately didn’t do very well, proving Web video still has a way to go before mainstream acceptance is guaranteed.

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Sling.com, the online video portal from the makers of the Slingbox, is now open to the public, putting it in direct competition with the likes of Hulu and Joost. Unfortunately, like so many other sites, it’s only open to U.S. citizens.

SlingMedia

SlingMedia is the company responsible for the popular Slingbox device which allows you to broadcast a TV signal around your house via the Internet. It’s also recently launched the SlingCatcher, a set-top box to compete with the likes of AppleTV and Roku.

Not content with managing market battles on two fronts, SlingMedia has recently opened its Sling.com video portal up to the public, allowing users to stream movies and TV programs for free in Flash video format.

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The new Joost is now live, and offers users the chance to watch content in their Web browser using Flash. But is the content ever going to be good enough for it to compete with Hulu?

We’ve been expecting this to happen for over a month now: Joost has become Web-based, eschewing the need for a plug-in to be downloaded. In fact, the plug-in option has been dropped altogether to keep things simple.

Long Overdue

This move was long overdue as viewers made it clear that they didn’t want to download anything or open up an application just to view the odd video. So more than a year after it was first suggested, Joost has dropped the plug-in.

Joost CEO Mike Volpi told NewTeeVee that the plug-in could come back in time if the need was justified. This would seem to be only necessary for streaming live events.

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While Joost may have been first to launch, Hulu is the television service that has taken off while Joost has been left to die. But, Joost Mark II now seems to have started a new war between the two.

Joost Mark II

Joost was all but dead and buried as a legitimate and viable option for viewers to get their Web television kicks. But, it’s now back, new, improved, and available as a browser-based TV service rather than being a desktop client.

What’s more, Joost Mark II was given a features overhaul, and now comes complete with genre searching, and Facebook-style social networking features.

Hulu Copies

Joost still may not have the volume or variety of unmissable content that Hulu has, but it’s back and competing on an even playing field once again. Or at least it was until Hulu decided to beat Joost at its own game.