You could browse the web on a mobile phone before the iPhone too...
Windows Media was horrible from a end-user UX perspective (not well integrated into browsers, differences across OSes/browsers, version/codec issues) and required special server software.
RTMP streaming over Flash Communication Server was great on end-user UX but still required special server software.
Real Video/QuickTime sucked on both sides.
There's a world of difference between something being technically possible and being good enough to cause widespread adoption.
There were many streaming businesses that saw small scale success (like Broadcast.com) before Flash 7 was released. Just like there were some fairly successful business built selling Java games on flip phones.
Comments
You could browse the web on a mobile phone before the iPhone too...
Windows Media was horrible from a end-user UX perspective (not well integrated into browsers, differences across OSes/browsers, version/codec issues) and required special server software.
RTMP streaming over Flash Communication Server was great on end-user UX but still required special server software.
Real Video/QuickTime sucked on both sides.
There's a world of difference between something being technically possible and being good enough to cause widespread adoption.
There were many streaming businesses that saw small scale success (like Broadcast.com) before Flash 7 was released. Just like there were some fairly successful business built selling Java games on flip phones.