Flickr Video Beta due in April

If you've been sat there thinking “Gee, if only there was another online video sharing service I could use” then I'm pleased to be able to bring your wishes true: photo sharing site Flickr is to branch out into the moving pictures side of the market in April.

Flickr Video Beta is due to arrive by the middle of next month in the initial form of a public beta. Although the Yahoo-owned company replaced Yahoo Photos with Flickr after their purchase of the photo sharing company, Yahoo Video will still exist as a separate entity after this launch.

Flickr Video will have its work cut out to make an impact in a largely profit-free market dominated by Google's YouTube service: even the Yahoo Video service accounts for just 3.2 percent of on-line video viewing. Flickr will be hoping against hope that it will be able to tempt members with the promise of a one-stop shop for photo and video sharing.

It's an interesting tactic, as the vast majority of Flickr's 23 million members are photographers. How many of those will want or even need to upload video footage in addition to their still imagery remains to be seen. It's questionable whether Flickr will even want to succeed at video sharing, as the immeasurably bigger YouTube has yet to turn a profit despite being the undeniable king of the video sharing marketplace.

Any Flickr users for whom the video uploading feature will be a source of joy, or are we all far to jaded to be excited by Flickr deviating from their core competency? Let us know over in the forums.