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NEWS: Video-on-Demand Service Akimbo Shuts Down




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Paploo



Joined: 21 Nov 2006
Posts: 1875
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 7:52 pm Reply with quote
Too bad. Though I guess Legal download services have too much to compete with, being such a small market, and having way too much competition with illegal content. I hope it doesn't cause problems for Anime companies..... ADV and CPM being two of it's bigger partners is a bad sign
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4575
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 8:37 pm Reply with quote
I don't think I've ever heard of this service before now.
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hikaru004



Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Posts: 2306
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 10:20 pm Reply with quote
Paploo wrote:
Too bad. Though I guess Legal download services have too much to compete with, being such a small market, and having way too much competition with illegal content. I hope it doesn't cause problems for Anime companies..... ADV and CPM being two of it's bigger partners is a bad sign


Well CPM is at Totalvid and ADV is on cellphones, PC and TV so no worries.
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Busaiku Chama



Joined: 27 Nov 2005
Posts: 65
Location: There
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:13 pm Reply with quote
CPM is also on Anime Selects.
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Teriyaki Terrier



Joined: 26 Mar 2008
Posts: 5689
PostPosted: Mon Jun 02, 2008 11:27 pm Reply with quote
Like I've been saying, we are in a bad economy these days. In order to thrive, companies must secure one than one means of revenue. Otherwise they'll become similar to closed companies such as Geneon and other smaller companies that were forced to close.
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Arcwave



Joined: 07 Jul 2007
Posts: 246
Location: Seattle
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 12:03 am Reply with quote
Akimbo? What the heck was that? Hmm, no wonder they went out of business...

Shocked
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Sticks



Joined: 14 Apr 2007
Posts: 199
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 2:13 am Reply with quote
Well, it looks like I saved a few bucks.

I saw Akimbo at AX06 and was interested, but I waited for my new computer and then saw some changes with them, so I waited to see what happens. From what I saw, they were pretty good. But now that we can get anime anywhere, sometimes for almost nothing, there's no reason to have them at all.
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kokuryu



Joined: 07 Apr 2007
Posts: 915
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 3:16 am Reply with quote
They made 4 fatal mistakes...

(1) They used Windows as a base for everything
(2) They stopped offering download and view - they started to require an internet connection
(3) They got rid of the stand alone boxes and started requiring Windows on PCs
(4) When they re-made their website, they used all active-X controls - every one of which was buggy - so that nobody could access their site anymore, and any customers they had left could not use their services anymore

It was good while it lasted - and hopefully someone else will come along and learn from their mistakes. I really enjoyed their service in the beginning - at the end, it sucked.
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Big Hed



Joined: 04 May 2006
Posts: 1607
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 4:18 am Reply with quote
Up front I'll admit I don't know much about the company, but just to put in my opinions...

kokuryu wrote:

(1) They used Windows as a base for everything


Do you mean that platform compatability was an issue? If so, then I suppose I agree.

Quote:

(2) They stopped offering download and view - they started to require an internet connection


Yeah, streaming services are still far from perfect in my opinion. Direct downloads need to be a more widespread option.

Quote:

(3) They got rid of the stand alone boxes and started requiring Windows on PCs.


Disagree. Hardware distribution is an extremely competitive market I think, and I imagine that a small company like Akimbo would have had trouble breaking into it. I'd bet that Akimbo's overheads for manufacturing the boxes were high, therefore pushing the price tag up at retail, which in turn would've made staying green even harder in a market that is small to begin with. I wouldn't be suprised if a lot of potential customers would have turned away at the thought of having another set top box in their living room.

If Akimbo pulled the plug on their hardware branch, it was because they weren't pulling in enough revenue from it. Personally, I think the decision to sell the boxes to begin with was more 'fatal'.

Quote:

(4) When they re-made their website, they used all active-X controls - every one of which was buggy - so that nobody could access their site anymore, and any customers they had left could not use their services anymore


Again, I can't speak from experience here, but poor web design for a business that uses a digital distribution model more than anything sounds like the fatal error here.

Anyway, it's unfortunate to hear about this, but not sky fallingly so. I find it weird that Akimbo suddenly collapsed, when it seems from the article that the company was doing not to poorly until recently.[/quote]
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AstroNerdBoy



Joined: 03 Feb 2004
Posts: 413
Location: Denver, CO
PostPosted: Tue Jun 03, 2008 5:47 am Reply with quote
Never heard of this company.
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mithrandiryod



Joined: 03 Dec 2007
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:48 pm Reply with quote
Four Million in Funding and they had to shut down 3 months later? Man I don't want to bring downloading Anime into this issue. Someone who can burn through 4 million in capital in just 3 months has other MAJOR problems. The business model was likely flawed and if I were the acting forensic auditor that should be assigned to this case, I would search deep for any looting of the corporate treasury.

-mith
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