I firstly reported UStream was going to bring live streaming to mobile phones. They are now developing an iPhone application that does just that. TechCrunch has a bunch of invitations for anyone that wants to try it and watch Obama’s Inauguration live on the iPhone.

12seconds.tv is essentially the Twitter of videos. It allows people to make 12 second videos and post them on the site. You cannot stream yourself live as you can with Qik and soon UStream. Qik recently integrated user accounts with 12seconds.tv. The service will now be opened to anyone and will move out of the invite only beta. They will also launch an iPhone app, but for some strange reason, the app will cost 99 cents. I really don`t see why anyone would actually pay for the iPhone app, bad move, 12seconds.tv.

UStream has now begun developing a mobile application to bring live mobile video streaming to mobile phones on its service. There really isn’t an established player in this space yet, but the market is quickly becoming saturated with competitors including Qik and Kyte. If YouTube decides to enter this space, probably within the next year or so, those smaller guys will all be toast, to say the least. The UStream application takes only about 6 seconds for a video to go live, while all others take at least about 30 seconds. It also has built in chat support and you can alternate between your two cameras on your phone. There is no word on availability but a beta should be coming soon.

Yahoo is reporting today that it will be shutting down its Yahoo! Live! service which is essentially a competitor to UStream and Justin.tv. Yahoo Live has been up for less than a year, and already Yahoo is pulling the plug on this divisional start-up. The phone is probably the costs to keep customers are too high because of the volume of traffic the site was experienced, it simply was not profitable. This action has significant implications and could be an indication that the niche live video broadcast market isn’t as profitable and we could in fact see companies such as Ustream scale back in uniques or also cease due to lack of potential return and high operating costs. Additionally, existing small competitors such as Ustream could face significant competition when YouTube soon will too launch comparable services where people can broadcast themselves live. However, there aren’t currently really any well established live streaming players in the mobile space, except perhaps Qik. This segment I think has significant potential simply because there aren’t really any established players and because of the widescale use of smartphones because of affordible data planes and also because of faster HSDPA networks. However, this market too could be challenging immediately if YouTube decides to enter, which isn’t likely for reasonably within about 2 more years (if at all), so there is plenty of space for emerging start-ups.

Qik, the popular online service that lets people stream live video/audio from mobile phones to the internet, has teamed up with competitor 12seconds (the Twitter of Video). Now, the first 12 seconds of your streaming video will also be sent on 12seconds assuming you have paired your Qik account. Qik more recently was the first company to bring live video streaming to a few select BlackBerry devices (you still cannot stream live with 12seconds from a BB). There are really no benefits to the end user with this deal as no new features have resulted as a result of this strategic partnership. 12seconds is a newer start-up and has experienced faster initial stage growth than Qik. Compete indicates both websites are experiencing about identical traffic, with Qik leading by about 30 thousands more uniques per month.