Smart TV Alliance,
launched in June this year by founding board members LG Electronics and TP
Vision with Toshiba joining shortly after, has expanded with new members with
expertise from different areas of the Smart TV industry. As it continues to
expand its market reach, the Smart TV Alliance will publish specifications for
its software development kit (SDK) 2.0 on its official website
www.smarttv-alliance.org. The actual SDK tool will be made available by the end
of the year for use by developers.
In addition to Smart TV
manufacturers, organizations that contribute in different ways to the Smart TV
experience have also joined the Alliance.
Qualcomm and MStar will bring their expertise and understanding in hardware
design to the consortium while Obigo, a leading web browser provider and
application developer, will provide valuable input from a developer’s
perspective. And YuMe, a provider of video advertising software and services,
will deliver knowledge and experience from the advertising community.
“The expanding
membership of the Smart TV Alliance is clear indication that these companies
recognize the value of this Alliance,”
said Richard Choi of LG Electronics, President of Smart TV Alliance. “This is
an industry coming together to solve a common problem, which has clear benefits
for the consumer. The diversity of the Smart TV Alliance is reassuring because
it shows that this is an industry movement, not just an initiative from TV
manufacturers.”
Demonstrating that
developing common Alliance
specifications is not an exercise in theory only, Obigo has developed apps
based on Alliance SDK 1.0 specifications that run consistently on TV sets from Alliance members. Consumers will be able to
enjoy these apps, including Accuweather
and Vilanoise, when they become publicly available in September. In
addition, more apps will be developed and become available through Smart TV
Alliance members.
“This is an important step for the
industry. Being able to work with a much larger install base presents great
opportunities for us,” stated David Hwang, President of Obigo. “Now we can put
our energy into making our apps better instead of testing the same app on many
different TV sets. We can be a lot more productive this way.”
As different
communities in the Smart TV industry come together, the Smart TV Alliance will
announce the SDK 2.0 specifications on its website, which will be supported by
2013 products from member companies. By looking at these specifications, developers
will be able to understand what capabilities to expect on 2013 products and
plan their application development accordingly. After the specifications are
announced, the SDK software tool will be available for download from
www.smarttv-alliance.org.
No comments:
Post a Comment