Meerkat Finally Makes Its App Available for Android

Just in about a fortnight after releasing registrations for its beta product, the live video-streaming app Meerkat has ultimately made itself available for Android. Although technically, the app is still classified as a beta product, it has now been launched for all those who use Android and users can download it via Google Play.

On the face of it, the app doesn’t seem to put forth many limitations as far as device options are concerned. Further, the core feature list is also reasonably comparable to its iOS version. The viewing streams provided by the app appear to work well. Also, the app maintains the same rules as does the iOS version, that is to say you cannot re-watch feeds after they all are gone.

As an app, Meerkat allows users to enjoy live-streaming right from their phones to all their Twitter followers, and left a great impression post its entry at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Texas in the beginning of this year. However, the app which was earlier only meant for iOS was brought up a notch higher by no other than Twitter around late March this year when it set in motion its own similar product known as Periscope, which too was an iOS-only app.

As far as the app’s reachability is concerned, Meerkat’s decision to plunge quickly on Android to get hold of some more thriving space between itself and Periscope seems to be a good and well-thought of strategy.  Whether or not it results in a significant first-mover vantage on the platform, is for time to tell. While Periscope has been maturing in mindshare, and the buzz around Meerkat has now subsided to an extent, Meerkat’s leap into the Android user community is likely to give the needed boost to the app as it anticipates making the most of its $14 million funding.