Criticism
With the initial launch of the service, complaints were rampant regarding the cost of the set-top-box (about $300), and then the added cost for users to purchase video content. Users would be able to buy or rent video content which would then be downloaded to their player for viewing. Akimbo would purchase the rights to provide content from content providers, then allow the content providers to set the cost of their content. This resulted in erratic pricing and exorbitant costs for users, as content owners would often set prices of 5-9 dollars for a 30 minute show, and load the show with commercials.
Akimbo also struggled with video quality, using Windows Media as the video type. Videos often were encoded in standard definition with the audio and video out of sync, audio cutting out part way through a video, and or pixelation and distortion to the video.
About a month after launching the Akimbo service, the company had about 120 active set-top boxes, about 60 of which were being used by employees and/or investors. On average only about 20 of those 120 players downloaded any content during a month. At the time when the company began its first round of lay-offs, about a year and a half after the initial launch, the number of users had grown to only about 140.
Read more about this topic: Akimbo (on-demand Service)
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