Airtight… Not Long For This World?

Better hurry if you want to bring (limited) Apple Airplay functionality to your Google TV. While most of Apple, Inc vacationed during a long holiday, Airtight hit the Android Market. The 99 cent app enables you stream videos and photos from an iPhone or iPad to a television via Google TV – such as the Logitech Revue ($79). Unfortunately, music isn’t yet supported and of course DRM-ed content, like iTunes movie rentals, is a no-go. The probable bigger issue is our assumption that once Apple returns to the office they’ll likely ask Google to remove Airtight from the Market… as Apple intends to license AirPlay receiver capabilities, with one manufacturer (who’d rather not be named) telling me discussions with Apple pegged the fee at several dollars per box. (And, for low margin streaming boxes in the $100 range, that pricing is quite lofty.) Then again, given Google TV’s poor reception and limited adoption, Airtight might not be a relevant enough target for Apple legal to mess with. But you may want to hedge your bets by grabbing the app now.

3 thoughts on “Airtight… Not Long For This World?”

  1. Hm, Richard Lawler of Engadget HD just informed me Boxee also receives AirPlay. I’ll drop them a note to see if they’ve licensed it or know anything about that. It’s also possible that Apple dropped the licensing plan and is ignoring these ports. (My intel was from early 2011, prior to the Bloomberg article.)

  2. Boxee’s rep has no comment, leading me to believe it’s unsanctioned (and Apple obviously doesn’t care… yet). Wish they’d kept that spirit alive in regards to their former Hulu access. ;)

  3. There are a number of OS X HTPC receiver apps for AirPlay, none of which seem to be sanctioned by Apple.

    Just reverse-engineer, and everything seems to be okey-dokey on a small scale. No lawyers necessary.

Comments are closed.