There’s still images and video; there’s even multimedia images with sound effects, still images pulled from video, and of course, animations. But with Moju, an iPhone app released today by Moju Labs, there’s a brand new content type: an animated still image comprised of up to 24 individual shots that can be viewed in any angle or order by twisting the iPhone in your hand back and forth.
We’ve thus far seen a slew of apps using tech unique to our mobile devices, utilizing video and sound recording, sensors, GPS and the phone’s accelerometer to transform how users create and share images. Apps like Seene, Mindie, Frontback, Vine and even Instagram itself now compete to be your mobile go-to for what my co-editor Matthew Panzarino calls “vertical streams of cool, clever things.” Moju, an app that leverages the iPhone’s ability to capture a series of photos and user movements, is today adding its name to the game. It aspires to be a concise, hyperreal alternative to the pitfalls of video on mobile. The formula to win the “beyond photos” game is innovation in grades, where an extra second or two shaved off, or the right shade of filter, means the difference between hundreds of millions of users and dollars or a slow fade into the Amaro-hued sunset.
