SimpleDevices Announces Key Partnership With Motorola and Demonstrates Its Multi-Device Platform At Cable 2001
CHICAGO--June 11, 2001--SimpleDevices, providers of a multi-device integrated platform for delivering rich content and applications beyond the PC, today announced that it has entered into a commercial agreement with Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector to develop, market and distribute SimpleFi, a wireless digital audio receiver for the home stereo powered by SimpleDevices' platform. The agreement also includes a strategic investment by Motorola.
Enabled with the company's SimpleServe(TM) middleware, the SimpleFi connects a user's PC, and the Internet beyond it, to all legacy home stereo systems for easy transfer and playback of streaming radio and digital music/audio files. The SimpleFi will be distributed through network service providers and major retailers this year.
A wireless, high-fidelity, digital audio receiver for the home stereo, SimpleFi bridges the gap between the PC and home stereo by allowing users to stream CD-quality, digital audio wirelessly from a PC to high-fidelity audio equipment. Using the SimpleServe intuitive interface on the PC, users can build custom music playlists collected online or uploaded from CDs, receive customized web content such as sports and news, or play live audio streams from SimpleDevices' newest content partners: Live365, MP3.com and Kick. Live365 and MP3.com provide streaming Internet radio and premium audio content from personal lockers and channels. Adding a unique level of interaction, Kick provides album and artist information, including news, concert dates, and more, on the music collected by the user.
"Our customers want variety and value from their broadband connection, and SimpleDevices' extensive platform allows them to have their high-speed connections available throughout the home, instead of limiting access to data and Web content to the PC or TV screen," said Vince Izzo, director of home networking for Motorola's Broadband Communications Sector.
Lou Hughes, CEO of SimpleDevices, added, "There's real demand for products that can move content beyond the PC to other areas of the home. As more and more people use the PC to collect music and other audio content, products like SimpleFi that free their music from the PC and send it to other parts of the home, such as the stereo and the car, will have mass consumer appeal. We're excited to have Motorola as our partner in taking SimpleFi to market."
Building on the success of SimpleFi, SimpleDevices also today debuted SimpleAuto, a digital audio system for automobiles that integrates with the SimpleDevices platform. SimpleAuto delivers on-demand or scheduled personalized audio content to the car, including syndicated news broadcasts, audio books, MP3 files, and ad-supported online radio programs. A new concept in automobile entertainment, SimpleAuto is a digital audio receiver for the car that wirelessly connects to SimpleDevices' platform, allowing users to synchronize music selections and other audio content located on a home PC or set-top box with the sound system in their car. Comprising both a trunk-mounted media storage transceiver and an in-dash interface and player that accesses SimpleAuto's database, SimpleAuto leverages the SimpleDevices platform to make it easy for users to create playlists and manage hundreds of hours of music and other audio content from personal entertainment collections, audio books, the web, SimpleDevices' content partners and other digital content. Like all SimpleDevices products, SimpleAuto boasts the unique TagIT! function, which provides interactive capability that allows users to bookmark content of interest within their digital media files and even live AM/FM radio programs.
Central to the SimpleDevices' platform is SimpleMedia Services, a hosted service that enables network service providers to deliver and monetize content from third-party content providers to multiple devices. SimpleMedia Services is a flexible content distribution engine that allows service providers to offer tiered services for digital audio content, much in the way cable television is currently sold. Together with the multi-platform compatible SimpleServe middleware which resides on the user's PC, set-top box or a variety of storage gateways, SimpleMedia Services provides an end-to-end solution for service providers to offer compelling new services to customers to increase broadband adoption and create incremental recurring revenue streams.
About Motorola
Motorola, Inc. is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. Sales in 2000 were $37.6 billion.
For more information, visit us on the Web at www.motorola.com.
About SimpleDevices, Inc.
Founded in 1999, SimpleDevices has developed a multi-device integrated platform that delivers customizable, premium content beyond the PC to a variety of wireless devices for the home, automobile and enterprise. The platform, centered around the SimpleServe device-networking middleware, transforms any Internet-connected PC or storage gateway into a network server that can stream digital media and data to SimpleDevices-enabled legacy products such as stereos, automobiles, PDAs and more. SimpleDevices enables network service providers to deliver and monetize digital media to their subscribers through its SimpleMedia Services hosted application. SimpleMedia Services includes third party, branded, integrated content at the network head-end to enable the service provider to create recurring revenue for interactive services delivered to devices beyond the PC. Located in Burlingame, Calif., SimpleDevices has received investments from Motorola, Proxim, and Casio, and is currently in the process of closing its Series B round of funding.
For more information about SimpleDevices' technology, exhibitors can visit Motorola's Booth No. 1700 where SimpleDevices is providing demos.
For additional information, editors should contact Christine Gasparac at SimpleDevices, 650/373-7241, christine@simpledevices.com or Anne-miek Hamelinck at Antenna Group, 415/977-1923, annemiek@antennagroup.com.