The 5 huge product misses from the Quibi launch.

My retired mother sent me an email with the subject “Will Quibi Hurt Netflix, Roku, and Disney?” with a link to an article she had read on the Motley Fool earlier that day online.

During the same week, a few coworkers of mine at Y Media Labs had downloaded the app and were sharing thoughts like, “It looks great.” “Well designed!” and more. At YML, we are a digital agency with a passion for innovation, so naturally, we love a good disrupter, fresh thought and we especially have an appreciation for a great mobile interface.

I wanted to learn more about Quibi’s vision. “Our use case are these in-between moments, whether you’re on-the-go or not,” stated Rob Post, CTO of Quibi.

This made sense. They saw a trend in content consumption and a platform gap, and they worked quickly to fill it. Additionally, they had great hype, the celebrity cameos, and all the funding. However, I couldn’t stop seeing a Fyre Fest trend here. There was a big idea, massive celebrity endorsement, and a fast-paced rollout. However, I’m not seeing the smaller pilots gather data about user behavior and make adjustments.

Let's not forget to mention the obvious cards stacked against Quibi. They are launching a mobile app designed for an “always on the go” audience during a time where everybody is quarantined at home with their TVs and established streaming services.

The internet has taken no time to share how they feel…

Here are the 5 issues I see that could drive Quibi to failure.

• Timing of release. Why this is important: Releasing this platform in the middle of a time where everybody is at home, in front of their large screens and other paid content platforms, the need for mobile-only isn’t huge.
• Feature Issue: You cannot take a screenshot. Why this is important: Being able to share a post or short clip from one platform to another is critical to viral content and platform awareness. No screenshots or sharing on mobile = no viral capability.
• Feature Issue: You can’t put it on your TV. Why this is important: People want content in their channel of choice. You might be on your phone now, but when you get home you don't want to sit on the couch watching your phone to finish a show. This is why being able to pivot between mobile/tv on platforms like Netflix and Youtube is critical to success.
• The Target Audience is Wrong: Why this is important: Quibi has brought in high dollar celebs to product “premium content” for mobile, and their target audience is 18–34. When you look at users who are high consumers of short mobile content, exempting young teens or children from this platform's target is a huge miss.
• Pricing Miss Why this is important: The world is familiar with the freemium model and it works well for mobile. There isn’t enough established buzz about the platform to offer paid-only options.

In the end, I still believe there is a desire to continue closing the gap at “the meeting of quality and quickness.” Only time will tell if Quibi will be a success. I could be wrong, but unless they capture user feedback now and quickly iterate and adjust to meet user needs, I see this product flopping faster than New Coke.