Filed under: Video, Internet Tools, iPhone
Sling Media wants to stream to iPhone
We mentioned a while back that Sling Media was working hard to add support for the Apple TV to their Sling Box placeshifting device. Now the company's CEO Blake Krikorian revealed at NAB that the company is courting Apple to allow Sling to offer their client software on the iPhone. This would effectively allow iPhone users access to their entire home media collection as connected to a Slingbox. Presumably, this would have to be over WiFi since the the iPhone's EDGE connection would be too slow for video. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Apple is not commenting on this. For my own part, I think this would be an absolutely killer feature for the iPhone, though I would not be surprised if Apple had in mind developing something in house rather than letting Sling offer their client (which already runs on Mac, PC, Windows Mobile, and Palm).
[Via MacNN]
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eric Carroll said 12:26PM on 4-19-2007
I think this conflicts with the iTunes Store, why buy "the Office" for $2 to watch on the iPhone when I can just access my DVR via SlingBox...
Reply
cableguyjim said 1:08PM on 4-19-2007
I've got this on my Nokia E65 on the 3 network here in the UK, and it's pretty cool - but on the iPhone's larger screen it would look even better! They just need to bring out a 3G version over here...
Reply
Austin said 1:19PM on 4-19-2007
I figured Sling Media would do this. I'm a little worried about all the bad things people are saying about how slow the EDGE connection is. Why would they use it if it's so slow?
Reply
Leonard Nimrod said 5:25PM on 4-19-2007
I don't see why Apple will not trump this with a .Mac solution.
With your Mac syncing with your .Mac account and your iPhone syncing to your .Mac account Apple could have a killer Slingbox-like solution WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CONFIGURATION.
This would also help increase iTunes Store and .Mac sales.
.Mac would simply keep track of the IP addresses for your home Mac and your iPhone--just like a torrent tracker server keep tracks of peer and seed IP addresses--except this would be a much simpler solution and would confined to only your devices. Just like with P2P, the media doesn't travel through the tracker server, only from the source to the destination.
The only problem I foresee with this simple solution is AT&T not wanting to Apple to implement this network clogging solution. However, Apple could arrange it that it only works from WiFi.
Reply
Leonard Nimrod said 5:37PM on 4-19-2007
Austin wrote "I figured Sling Media would do this. I'm a little worried about all the bad things people are saying about how slow the EDGE connection is. Why would they use it if it's so slow?"
It's the most prolific data transmission type used by AT&T. This will change in the coming seasons as they are rapidly upgrading their towers.
If Apple added HSDPA right now it would add cost to the phone, drain the battery faster and would only be utilized by very few people.
Europe is another story. 3G is more ubiquitous. I'm certain that Apple's entry into Europe will be with an upgraded phone design.
Reply
Fritz Laurel said 2:37PM on 4-20-2007
Not to mention that this competes directly with AppleTV.
Reply
JeffDM said 1:43PM on 4-21-2007
Slingbox is a little bit different type of device. To say that SB competes with AppleTV would be like saying the iPod competes with PSP. It does in a few ways, but what it does and how it does it is clearly different between the two. Sling does play to other mobile phones, it is also supposed to adapt based on the available streaming rates. The iPhone screen is bigger than the typical phone's though.
I don't know why this is news though, Sling is supposed to work on many types of phones. That they want to have their player work with iPhone shouldn't be a surprise, but given that Apple wants to allow only approved software, they might just veto this.
Reply