Multimedia presentation company Brainshark just launched a new feature that lets the company’s users stream their multimedia presentations to mobile devices, including Blackberry, iOS devices, Android phones and the Palm Pre. The company, which allows its users to create narrated versions of their PowerPoint presentations and mix these with additional video and audio content, now offers live streams of these presentations that are compatible with the major mobile platforms. Mobile streaming is available for users of Brainshark’s free myBrainshark service, as well as Brainshark’s enterprise customers.
Making Multimedia Presentations Mobile
The company’s back-end systems will simply encode the presentation in the appropriate format for the device. Sadly, though, Brainshark does not offer a mobile version of its site. As the company’s product director David Klein and vice president and general manager Andy Zimmerman told us when we talked to them about this update last week, Brainshark assumes that most of these presentations will be passed around by email, so a dedicated mobile site is not high on the company’s list of priorities. This seems like a missed opportunity to us. A mobile site would allow users to easily navigate related content on the service – whether it is internal training material at one of the company’s Fortune 500 clients or guiding users of the free service to interesting presentations.
It’s worth noting that other presentation-sharing companies like SlideShare also offer mobile versions of their services. With its focus on narrated content and integrated video, Brainshark is able to add an additional dimension to presentations that most other services can’t offer.
Also New: myBrainshark Pro
Earlier this year, Brainshark also launched a pro version of its service, which takes its place between the company’s free offerings and services for its enterprise clients. MyBrainshark Pro allows users to add password protection to their presentations and create a lead-generation guestbook. This service, which costs $9.99 per presentation, also includes additional reporting features and personalized URLs.
Coming Soon: myBrainshark Pro Trainer
According to Klein, one of the largest markets for the company’s professional product is the professional training business. Next month, Brainshark plans to offer a product that is specifically geared towards this market. Brainshark’s “Trainer” product will allow users to create test questions and scoring, as well as integration with learning management systems and the ability to merge content from multiple presentations.
