Dailymotion , the Paris-based video sharing portal that is extremely popular in Europe, just launched its first set of iPhone applications. Dailymotion launched two apps: a free ad-supported version ( iTunes link ) and a paid version for $5.99 ( iTunes link ) that does not feature any ads. The apps allow iPhone users to play videos from Dailymotion’s catalog of roughly 12 million videos. Dailymotion users can also use the apps to upload videos directly to the service. Sponsor Until now, the only way to access Dailymotion from the iPhone was through a mobile-optimized web interface. Given YouTube’s position as a default app on the iPhone, this put Dailymotion at a significant disadvantage. In terms of content, Dailymotion can’t really compete with YouTube, where users now upload more than 24 hours of video per minute , but the app can easily compete with those from other streaming video services. One feature of the app we especially like is how easy it is to browse through different categories. This is also where Dailymotion’s international focus shines through, as the app also makes it very straightforward to restrict searches to popular videos in a specific country. Discuss

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YouTube Competitor Dailymotion Comes to the iPhone

There were a ton of great products launched in 2009 by big companies and startups alike, but in this post we focus on the best products released by startups. The easiest way to become a leading product in your industry is to meet a need better than anyone else. The following ten have proven themselves with great features, substantial marketplace momentum and, most importantly, a game-changing approach to solving a problem. Sponsor ReadWriteWeb’s Best Products of 2009: Real-Time Reference – Aardvark : Reinventing Q&A, ReadWriteWeb covered Aardvark’s launch in March 2009 . The service allows users to ask and answer questions through a network of friends via IM, iPhone application, Twitter, email or web interface. Because the system automatically routes questions to people with the right expertise, answers are fairly accurate and there is little need to use the service’s flagging system. The company claims that 90% of questions get answered in five minutes or less. Location-based Apps – Foursquare : Launched at SXSW, Foursquare is a location-based social application where users check in on their iPhone at various businesses and compete against their friend network for points. ReadWriteWeb first covered the company’s launch in March . Since then they’ve partnered with Bay Area Rapid Transit and a number of businesses to offer location-based deals to users. iPhone App Recommendation – Appsfire : In a world where iPhones seemed to saturate the earth, Appsfire offers a great way for users to share their favorites. Launched in August, ReadWriteWeb praised the convenience of the iPhone app . Four months after downloading it, many of our RWW teammates are still sharing their apps via the embeddable Appsfire widget and the iPhone application. Real-Time Search – Collecta : If you’re interested in finding out the latest info on a particular product, Collecta offers real-time search with a variety of results including blog posts, photos and Twitter and Identi.ca posts. Launched in June, ReadWriteWeb covered the company’s release . In September the company released its API to developers . Twitter App Discovery – OneForty : Dubbed the “unofficial Twitter app store” OneForty is a marketplace where Twitter developers add their applications for discovery. End-users can add their reviews and recommendation to be featured on the service’s front page. Launched in September, Oneforty breaks down the applications into easy to understand categories and features the most popular apps and recently uploaded apps on the homepage. Next Page: Top 10 Startup Products of 2009 6-10 All-You-Can-Eat Music – MOG All Access : Although MOG has been around as a blogging network for a few years, earlier this month the company launched it’s much-anticipated $5 dollar per month streaming music service. The product’s unique features include a discovery bar slider where users can play streaming radio and tweak the flow of recommendations to their liking. Coupled with an iPhone app that is promised to encompass offline caching, MOG All Access is a great service rivaled only by close competitor Spotify . Web TV – Clicker : Launched in mid November Clicker is considered the TV Guide for internet television . The company indexes 400,000 full episodes from 7,000 shows and features a DVR-like playlist (including Netflix Instant Streaming and Amazon VOD) and integration with Facebook connect. Clicker also has a Boxee app that pulls in metadata for shows, channels and actors. Semantic Search – Evri : Evri is a semantic search engine with a matching algorithm that creates connections between people, products and concepts. Launched in mid-June, ReadWriteWeb first reported the product’s ability to distinguish between subjects, verbs and objects to make connections . Conversation Aggregation – JS-Kit’s Echo : While JS-Kit has been around for three years, the company’ latest product Echo is a better iteration of blog comments. ReadWriteWeb first wrote about the product launch in July . The service allows users to embed a simple line of javascript in their blogs in order to gather a real-time stream of Diggs, Tweets, comments and reactions. Augmented Reality – Layar : ReadWriteWeb readers first got a glimpse of Layar in June . Created by SPRXmobile , the service places images and data on the mobile browser for a new form of location-based augmented reality discovery. In July SPRX released the company’s first developer keys for the API and by August it had celebrated an Android release with an iPhone app to follow. The company currently has a gallery with several cool 3rd party applications. Discuss

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Top 10 Startup Products of 2009

In a move of ninja swiftness, MySpace has acquired and subsequently shuttered iMeem in its entirety, even trashing the streaming/sharing music startup’s API, which had heretofore supplied much-needed resources to a small but vibrant ecosystem of apps. The acquisition was announced just yesterday, and developers were given no warning that their creations would become useless digital paperweights overnight. Among the detrius of the deal is twt.fm , a popular Twitter music-sharing app created by web dev Lee Martin, who tipped us off to his plight today in a blog post . UPDATE: Users are also reporting problems with blip.fm, a popular music-streaming site that integrated results from iMeem. Sponsor Calling iMeem “one of the best API platforms,” Martin, who works primarily in the music space, said that the startup was also “leagues ahead” of similar sites and services in terms of technology and openness. “They represented the music business of the future. Now they are a forced hyperlink to a… MySpace landing page making false promises and giving no guidance or help for the developer community they just destroyed. “Maybe MySpace will return my open streaming API platform… Until then, I’ll be brushing the dust off my 1999 Dell computer and getting ready to program music websites like I did 10 years ago.” If indeed MySpace doesn’t give developers back their iMeem API, will another streaming music service step in to fill that void? Pandora CEO Tim Westergren revealed in a recent interview that because of licensing issues, Pandora is nowhere close to releasing an open API. Last.fm has an API that allows for web, desktop and mobile development – and it’s ironic that Last might have the last API for music mashup developers. While we wait for comment from MySpace HQ, let us know in the comments what you think of this news, especially if you’re a developer who has been using iMeem’s API. Discuss

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MySpace Kills Streaming Music Apps Powered by iMeem’s API

It appears that the time for freemium music services in the US has passed. Earlier this week streaming music site Imeem sold to MySpace for under $10 million dollars while laying off a large number of staff. For a company with all four major record labels signed, more than 15 million uniques a month and well over 5 million tracks in its catalogue, it came as a sobering blow to the industry. While many companies move to a subscription model, 8tracks continues to forge along in what some describe as a convenient loophole. As of this weekend the company is publicly launching its API for Boston’s Music Hack Day . Sponsor Similar to the original concept for Muxtape , 8tracks allows users to trade 30 min (8 track) playlists. But unlike Muxtape, because 8tracks songs are not identified prior to play, the company is treated as an internet radio station. This status as a radio station means that it avoids the high licensing fees plaguing the streaming music sites. While Muxtape was forced to close in 2008, 8tracks continues to thrive. This weekend 8tracks is publicly launching its music playback API in the hopes of leveraging the collective brain power of Music Hack Day attendees. Some of the tools already built using the API that will be demoed include an iPhone player, a player widget for Facebook and a weekly Hype Machine mix . For those interested in getting involved with 8tracks on Music Hack Day, the developer API is available tomorrow at developer.8tracks.com . Discuss

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8tracks to Launch Playback API and Developer Program