Apple working together with BridgeCo to launch AirPlay

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited January 2014
In a rare partnership, Apple allowed BridgeCo a glimpse at its code in order to open up AirPlay streaming media integration to third-party devices.



BridgeCo, a software company that embeds chips for streaming media, gained unprecedented access to Apple's in-development AirPlay technology as a trusted partner, according to a new report by CNBC.



Prior to the partnership, Apple had never "opened up their eco-system," said BridgeCo CEO Gene Sheridan. "We've always been knocking on the door to work with them on this."



The El Segundo, Calif., company had worked with Apple before on iPod dock products, but a year ago, Apple invited BridgeCo to work with them even more closely as a launch partner for AirPlay, Apple's new wireless media streaming technology.



Sheridan and his team were given a rare opportunity to look at Apple's code. "There is a magic to Apple that sounds simple," he said. "They know how to take a complex and feature-rich technology and narrow it."



Afterward, BridgeCo sent Apple a "long list" of what it had to offer. The Cupertino, Calif., company chose three items.



Whereas previous third-party iTunes streaming options were "reverse engineering workarounds," BridgeCo's partnership with Apple means consumers won't have to worry that Apple's next software update will disable the streaming functionality of a third-party device.



The first stereo equipment with BridgeCo's new JukeBlox software, which will allow users to take advantage of AirPlay and "mix and match" equipment, should be out by the holidays.



BridgeCo isn't profitable yet, but the Apple partnership could quickly turn things around. According to the report, the deal could provide as much as "half the company's revenues."



On its website, Apple promotes Denon, Marantz, Bowers&Wilkins, JBL, and iHome as "featured partners" of AirPlay. Of these brands, only Denon is cross-listed on the BridgeCo website as a "Top Brand Connecting with BridgeCo."



At the Sep. 1 media event, Apple CEO Steve Jobs demoed the AirPlay technology by streaming the movie "Up" directly from an iPad running iOS 4.2 to the new AppleTV over Wi-Fi. Full AirPlay media streaming from iOS devices should be available through iOS 4.2 in November.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 46
    I'm sorry, it's late and I may have missed it- just what is bridgeco bringing to the table? What 3 things? How are they ensuring airplay is update proof to 3rd party products? Is airplay an open standard? Meh, maybe I'll figure it out in the morning, sorry for the wasted post.
  • Reply 2 of 46
    This can be absolutely huge! It would be fantastic if Apple allows third parties to tie their hardware into Airplay. This could be Sonos for the rest of us ... But really, if there are sound boxes with integrated Airplay that you just plug into a socket somewhere in you flat and can then stream music to it from any iDevice you want, even your friends, this would be fantastic!
  • Reply 3 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by boeyc15 View Post


    I'm sorry, it's late and I may have missed it- just what is bridgeco bringing to the table? What 3 things? How are they ensuring airplay is update proof to 3rd party products? Is airplay an open standard? Meh, maybe I'll figure it out in the morning, sorry for the wasted post.



    As far as I can tell, BridgeCo built JukeBlox, a "connectivity platform," that they're offering to manufacturers to help them enable AirPlay in their consumer entertainment devices.



    Since BridgeCo has Apple's "blessing," their chips and software should have a tight integration with AirPlay and iTunes.



    To my knowledge, AirPlay is not an open standard.
  • Reply 4 of 46
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by AppleInsider View Post


    Sheridan and his team were given a rare opportunity to look at Apple's code. "There is a magic to Apple that sounds simple," he said. "They know how to take a complex and feature-rich technology and narrow it."




    Hey.. hey..
  • Reply 5 of 46
    matrix07matrix07 Posts: 1,993member
    AirPlay is the most intrigue feature demonstrated a week ago. It'll allow iDevices to act like a portable movie & music server, right there in your hands. The only shortcoming I found is you need to play the content first before you airplay it. If you could just select a song or a video and airplay it directly it would be golden.
  • Reply 6 of 46
    They should open it up to everyone...I just want one good receiver with AirPlay built in that isn't too expensive. This should have been done years ago.
  • Reply 7 of 46
    So does anyone know of a connection between this bridgeco and sonos? Will airplay stream different feeds of music/video/internet radio to different plagers from one central server (be it a Mac or a true media/iTunes server?



    This would be a great technology if it truly will allow different companies coming out with a range (price/quality) of audio/video playback.



    As a sidenote, I hope Apple is working on a true international roll out of iTunes content (tv series and movies are still non existant in european stores). Apple we are really buying Ã* lot of your stuff lately!
  • Reply 8 of 46
    nkhmnkhm Posts: 928member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by techapocalypse View Post


    They should open it up to everyone...I just want one good receiver with AirPlay built in that isn't too expensive. This should have been done years ago.



    They already have, it's called airport express.
  • Reply 9 of 46


    deleted

  • Reply 10 of 46
    nkhmnkhm Posts: 928member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by kellya74u View Post


    I think I understand the benefits of AirPlay, streaming locally in your house. However, Simplify Media use to stream in your house & to the world via the net, including music, photos & other media. Granted, at the time, it was only one way streaming from your computer. The home computer app was free & you paid $2.99 for the iPhone app.



    Google bought the Simplify Media company to stream music to the Androids, & shut off the servers to the paid-for Mac streaming(Google's version of business integrity & ethics). What would prevent Google from buying Bridgeco to do the same thing again? Given history, I am surprised that Apple didn't buy this company to prevent such a happening from taking place, & maybe they tried. I would hate to see large sums of $ invested into AirPlay gadgets, only to have Google buy the company (& the intellectual property rights), which would block any hardware upgrades to match Apples' evolving technology. I'm sure Apple knows what they are doing & would leave us hanging.



    I don't see how Apple can lose intellectual property rights to their own intellectual property? Also, google try to buy this company and i guess Apple can always outbid them. I think a third party company is being used to help adoption of the technology, not to manage it in any way...
  • Reply 11 of 46
    diddydiddy Posts: 282member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by nkhm View Post


    I don't see how Apple can lose intellectual property rights to their own intellectual property? Also, google try to buy this company and i guess Apple can always outbid them. I think a third party company is being used to help adoption of the technology, not to manage it in any way...



    The agreements to use Airplay technology are probably done by license. Apple still owns intellectual property rights to Airplay no matter who owns the other company. Should one of these speaker companies be bought out, Apple can just tweak Airplay after terminating the license agreement. At no point could Google use any of Apple?s code unless they really wanted to get sued and loose.



    When you acquire a company you get their IP, not the IP of their partners.
  • Reply 12 of 46
    asciiascii Posts: 5,936member
    AirTunes, AirPlay, Home sharing, "normal" iTunes sharing that's not Home Sharing, Sharing system preferences, iPhoto sharing, Galleries, iPad syncing, iDisk, MobileMe syncing.



    Huh?
  • Reply 13 of 46
    sandausandau Posts: 1,230member
    Car Audio Airplay?
  • Reply 14 of 46
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    IMHO Apple should have simply bought this company and its talent and engineering assets and provided the Hi Fi companies with the chips directly. As it is I fear this will end up as a company bought by Google or MS or other perpetual Apple copycats. Even copyright isn't safe when people have detailed knowledge, witness Android and Palm OS, nothing more than reworks of Apple technology that seem to have circumvented the law.
  • Reply 15 of 46
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by diddy View Post


    The agreements to use Airplay technology are probably done by license. Apple still owns intellectual property rights to Airplay no matter who owns the other company. Should one of these speaker companies be bought out, Apple can just tweak Airplay after terminating the license agreement. At no point could Google use any of Apple’s code unless they really wanted to get sued and loose.



    When you acquire a company you get their IP, not the IP of their partners.



    Tell Eric Schmidt and Jon Rubinstein this! Seems to me these bozos managed to transfer something to their respective companies that they 'acquired' at Apple, if not actual code then concepts and at least some pretty damn good inside knowledge.



    I truly hope you are correct.
  • Reply 16 of 46
    wigginwiggin Posts: 2,265member
    I think what this likely is is the first FairPlay license Apple has ever given. Streaming non-DRM content has been done. But this is the first time Apple is letting a 3rd party playback iTunes Store DRM content. So BridgeCo's software is mostly likely an implementation of FairPlay which can then be integrated into other products.
  • Reply 17 of 46
    diddydiddy Posts: 282member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    Tell Eric Schmidt and Jon Rubinstein this! Seems to me these bozos managed to transfer something to their respective companies that they 'acquired' at Apple, if not actual code then concepts and at least some pretty damn good inside knowledge.



    I truly hope you are correct.



    Unless you can back that up with actual facts - it should be pretty easy to do. Companies rarely steal code and get away with it - it's really easy to find out. The best example was when Microsoft Media Player was caught having Apple's quicktime code verbatum in there. Apple called MS on it heavily in court and used that as a wedge to get MS to commit to office development.



    Insider knowledge is completely different from intellectual property by the way. And that has never been proven at all either. There have been allegations, but anybody can throw those around.
  • Reply 18 of 46
    diddydiddy Posts: 282member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by digitalclips View Post


    Even copyright isn't safe when people have detailed knowledge, witness Android and Palm OS, nothing more than reworks of Apple technology that seem to have circumvented the law.



    Seem to have and have are two very different things. If I walk out of a bank with tons of money that I did not walk in with, you can say that it seems like I robbed the place when in fact I did no such thing.



    Creating a rip-off is not in of itself illegal - only a court of law can determine that and no court has done so.
  • Reply 19 of 46
    patspats Posts: 112member
    Here is an article on the DM 870 in Linux Devices





    DM 870
  • Reply 20 of 46
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by diddy View Post


    Unless you can back that up with actual facts - it should be pretty easy to do. Companies rarely steal code and get away with it - it's really easy to find out. The best example was when Microsoft Media Player was caught having Apple's quicktime code verbatum in there. Apple called MS on it heavily in court and used that as a wedge to get MS to commit to office development.



    Insider knowledge is completely different from intellectual property by the way. And that has never been proven at all either. There have been allegations, but anybody can throw those around.



    when something is pretty damn evident, it rarely needs to be proven. IP converges with IK.

    Just because a court of law hasn't proved or disproved anything, doesn't mean we can't have very justified suspicions that verge on certainties sometimes.
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