Stephen Streater pans around his office holding a sparkling black tablet computer at arms length. The resultant 30 second video immediately appears on the screen. After a quick review, shots are selected, tags are added and frames are trimmed and… “Click send to Facebook. There you are – for the whole world to see.” On the other side of the room the file flashes up on the screen of his desktop computer, ready for more in-depth editing. Streater’s short video shot in his London office is now available for editing and publishing anywhere in the world. This is video in the Cloud.

When Forbidden Technologies (LON:FBT) launched a specially adapted version of its Cloud-based video editing technology for Android-powered tablet computers in February, Streater had more than one objective. With sales of tablets and smartphones set to eclipse those of traditional PCs by 2012, he saw an opportunity to tap in to growing consumer awareness of social media and web video. He also saw a chance to show off the capabilities of the consumer-focused Clesh system to potential buyers of the company’s professional service, FORscene.

Within days of launching the tablet version it became clear that there was also a demand for video editing software from users of Android smartphones, which considerably outnumber tablets. In response, Forbidden added a range of upgrades to the service and it now works equally well on popular smartphones as well.

In no small way, major advances in processor technology and the speed and capacity with which mobile devices can handle video is making it an increasingly easy medium for consumers to use. The ability to download a £2.49 Forbidden ‘app’ that lets those users edit and distribute their videos is a significant move by Forbidden because players such as Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG) are known to be looking closely at developing their own systems. However, it is uncertain that either will be able to offer the versatility of a Cloud-based system that lets users jump from mobile to PC to Mac and back again. In addition, later this year, Forbidden will launch an advanced version of its tablet and smartphone system aimed at professional broadcasters that want access to their video – anywhere, anytime.

Streater explains: “Many consumers now have multiple internet-enabled devices -…

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