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LAS VEGAS - Qualcomm's AllPlay whole-home wireless audio technology is making its debut here at International CES with products from five CE companies and native support planned by six music streaming services.
More CE brands and streaming services plan to support the technology, Qualcomm said.
AllPlay, which uses Wi-Fi and supports high-resolution audio codecs, is promoted as offering advantages over Apple's AirPlay and DLNA.
Qualcomm also positions its solution as an alternative to single-brand proprietary solutions, enabling consumers to buy compatible products from multiple brands. The AllPlay platform provides a "turnkey solution for cross-platform interoperability," said Gary Brotman, product management director for Qualcomm's connected experience group.
At the show, Panasonic and Altec Lansing are showing AllPlay-compatible tabletop speakers with embedded Wi-Fi. Panasonic is also showing a wireless receiver that consumers can add to existing music systems to connect them to an AllPlay network.
Three CE companies without U.S. distribution - Musaic, Lenco and Medion - are also showing products.
Additional CE brands will launch later in the year, said Brotman. The first speakers are expected to be available in the U.S. in mid-2014, with additional models due later this year.
Music services demonstrating native AllPlay support in their apps are iHeartRadio, Rhapsody, Napster, DoubleTwist and SomaFM. The services will add native support to their apps beginning this month...