Intel Viiv Partners Include TiVo, Adobe
November 30, 2005 | by Geoff Duncan
Intel's announced a list of companies which are working on software and applications for Intel's Viiv digital entertainment platform.
The slogan might currently read "Intel Inside," but the chip-making
giant is aiming to append "your living room" to the phrase as the
company looks to roll out the its Viiv digital media platform in early 2006. To that end, Intel has announced it's working with more than 40 companies to create services and software supporting Viiv technology. Viiv—which
rhymes with "five"—is a PC-based platform based on Microsoft's Windows
Media Center operating system, but it's also a label designed to
indicate compatibility between digital media devices and avoid consumer
confusion. Viiv compatible products might include more-or-less
traditional computers, but also stereo systems, portable DVD players,
music devices, LCD photoframes, cameras, and more. Products with the
Viiv label ("Enjoy with Intel Viiv technology") should all work with
each other, making consumer choices simpler, much as Intel's "Centrino"
label branded compatible Wi-Fi products together. Viiv-based PCs will
be able to manage and reformat media for other Viiv-compatible devices,
so users should be able to transfer video content, say, from a
camcorder to their computer, and from their computer to their DVR and
portable video player with relative transparency, with each device
receiving content optimized for its capabilities. Intel plans to
roll out the first Viiv systems in the first quarter of 2006; in the
meantime, Intel wants us to know the following companies are working on
Viiv-based offerings expected to be available by the end of 2006: Intel
also touts that it's offering specs, tools, and engineering support to
content providers and distributors to create Viiv-compatible
Internet-based content services. Almost as interesting as the
list itself—and potentially powerful partnerships with TiVo, Ubisoft,
CAPCOM, Adobe—is the names Intel isn't able to call out. Key among
them, Apple Computer, whose dominance of the legal music download and
portable music player market make it a key player, and whose
forthcoming switch from PowerPC to Intel-based processors would seem to
make it a ripe target for wooing. Also missing: consumer electronics
giants like Panasonic, Hitachi, Samsung, and Sony. It's still too
early to pronounce any verdict on the success of Viiv—clearly, Intel is
betting it can carve out a place for itself in people's living rooms as
both a technology provider and a trusted partner of content companies.
But Viiv's success as a technology label will likely hinge on its
inclusiveness and compatibility, rather than upon the exclusivity of
its partnerships.
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Benton on Dec 13th, 2005 at 9:30 AM:
Apple will announce on its own schedule. Most likely Jan 10, Steve Job's keynote at Macworld Expo in San Francisco.