Research in Motion has acquired JayCut, a company that was one of the first to launch a cloud-based video editing tool, back before people were throwing around words like “cloud.” JayCut allows users to upload videos to the web and then use browser-based tools to copy and paste video elements, add titles, transitions, and other effects.
While RIM hasn’t clearly spelled out what it hopes to do with JayCut, it looks like the goal is to create some sort of service for editing videos recording on BlackBerry devices such as the BlackBerry PlayBook.
In a blog post on the topic, RIM points out that PlayBook tablet has HD video cameras and HDMI output for recording and displaying high resolution videos. The company may be looking to use JayCut’s expertise to create a video editing app for the PlayBook — or a cloud-based video editing app that you can use to edit videos created on the PlayBook or other BlackBerry devices including smartphones.
I’ve never been entirely sold on the idea of cloud-based multimedia editors. It can take you a half hour to upload a video before you can even start editing it. Or you can use video editing software on your PC or mobile device to alter your video first and then upload the finished product to YouTube or other websites. The latter option is typically much faster since you can cut out portions you don’t need and compress the video before uploading it, so the file you’re sharing with the world is much smaller than the original video and you can upload it in a fraction of the time.
So while it’s certainly possible that RIM acquired JayCut to create a cloud-based video editor for BlackBerry, I kind of hope the goal is just to take the company’s video editors offline so that you can use them as native apps on the PlayBook or other BlackBerry products.
