SAN FRANCISCO — Samsung announced a bunch of new developer tools features at its first Samsung Dev Con earlier this week, but the one that really caught our eye was its new MultiScreen software development kit (SDK).
The idea behind the MultiScreen SDK is to let developers create more seamless experiences between apps on a phone or tablet and on a TV. The idea is that you can fling content from an app on your phone directly to your television set and then have that content play off of the TV, not your phone.
If you think this sounds a lot like Chromecast, you'd be right. However, there is a key difference. Much of Chromecast's implementation involves the DIAL standard, which lets apps "discover" compatible devices that it can send content to. Then it basically sends out a URL that launches an app or instance.
Where Samsung's MultiScreen SDK goes a step beyond is that it allows both the discovery of other screens and provides a way for further customization of how that code executes on the TV itself.
Pandora showed how MultiScreen would work with its Android app and a Samsung Smart TV using the SDK during the Dev Con keynote, and the results were impressive.
By simply walking into a room with a Samsung Smart TV, the Pandora app automatically detects the TV and sends the station and song to the TV instantly. On the TV is Pandora's full HTML5 10-foot experience, and it can be controlled off of the phone. Still, if the user left the room — or the house — the content continues to exist on the TV.
I spoke with Tom Conrad, Pandora's CTO and EVP of product about the MultiScreen SDK and how Pandora sees it as fitting into its future.
"We're really excited generally about this opportunity to bring people into the Pandora experience when they're not the ones who start the music," Conrad said.
He pointed out a scenario the team didn't demo on stage, but one the company thinks has a lot of potential: Allowing multiple users to control what songs are played off of a device using their phones. This is similar to some of the stuff Spotify Connect and Sol Republic have worked on from the audio side, but with the ability to also integrate with a TV.
Moreover, Conrad appreciates that Samsung is using existing web standards and open protocols with its SDK, because that makes it easy for the Pandora team to build in support into their apps.
What's really interesting about the Samsung MultiScreen SDK is that although the protocol will only support Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players for now (2013 and 2014 models), app developers can use either iOS or Android.
Making the decision to open up to iOS and non-Samsung Android devices is a big deal. While speaking to Curtis Sasaki, Samsung's SVP and head of Media Solutions Center America, he made a point to mention the multi-platform aspect of the SDK. "That's an indicator that we're not thinking about this in this closed/Samsung-only space," Sasaki said.
Still, when I asked about whether Samsung would consider making its MultiScreen SDK more of an open protocol that other manufacturers and ODMs could use (say Sony or LG), the answer was less clear. "I'm not sure of the answer to that to be honest," Sasaki admitted. That's probably a decision that will need to be determined at the upper echelons at Samsung, but it's something I hope the company considers.
During a breakout session that offered developers a preview of the MultiScreen SDK, the Samsung team showed code examples and reiterated how easily the company hopes to make it for devs to implement into their existing apps.
When the SDK goes live on Nov. 12, developers will be able to download toolkits for iOS and Android.
In the coming weeks, additional shims for a bevy of languages and JavaScript libraries will also be released and the team is actively seeking feedback from developers for more features and languages to support.
My one lingering question with the MultiScreen SDK is about potential market size. Right now, the MultiScreen SDK will only work with 2014 Samsung Smart TVs (those that are sold now) and 2013 models via software update.
According to Sasaki, Samsung had to make the decision to draw the line in the sand and require newer TVs because of what it wants developers to be able to do with the apps that execute within the TV platform.
That's largely because
one of the key advantages of leveraging this kind of technology is that the content doesn't run off of the phone — saving battery and offering more reliable connections. The downside of this concept is that it will require more powerful hardware requirements.
"It's funny to realize that today's TVs have quad-core processors and state-of-the-art web browsers," Sasaki remarked.
Samsung will be bringing some of these features to their Blu-ray players and potentially other streaming devices in the future, but this still puts limits on the initial install base for this type of technology.
Samsung is the world's biggest TV maker and it sells millions of smart TVs every year. Still, some of the developers I spoke with were apprehensive about the addressable market size.
"We really like the idea behind this tech," said one developer — who asked not to be named. "But we worry about how many users we'll have and if it will be worth our while to do this stuff."
Samsung is going to try to reward those developers by giving them promotion inside the Samsung App Store on its Galaxy devices. Sasaki also told me that he hopes that developers will take the lead from bigger players such as Pandora, wanting to replicate those types of features to stay on the cutting edge.
At the end of 2013, we're still having the debate about HTML5 vs native app development on mobile devices.
And although it's true that HTML5 is getting better than ever with experiences inching ever-closer to native, native app development has made a huge comeback in the last 18 months.
As a result, something interesting has happened: the best showcase for HTML5 technology is increasingly on the bigger screen.
Companies such as Netflix and Hulu are creating HTML5 versions of their content that easily scale and are easy to update across a bevy of devices that play back on the big screen. Plus, it's easy to download and update apps on a phone; on a TV, it's much more of a chore. That's why companies such as Pandora like to be able to use HTML5 on the TV when they can because it means always being able to offer the most updated experience to the user without having to worry about developing for a specific embedded system.
This is where I see the real potential of technologies such as Samsung's MultiScreen SDK. It gives app developers an easier way to target standards-based apps for the TV that doesn't require having to go through "developing a TV app."
We expect to see much more about multi-screen experiences from Samsung and other vendors, especially as we approach CES 2014. Stay tuned!
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
The idea behind the MultiScreen SDK is to let developers create more seamless experiences between apps on a phone or tablet and on a TV. The idea is that you can fling content from an app on your phone directly to your television set and then have that content play off of the TV, not your phone.
If you think this sounds a lot like Chromecast, you'd be right. However, there is a key difference. Much of Chromecast's implementation involves the DIAL standard, which lets apps "discover" compatible devices that it can send content to. Then it basically sends out a URL that launches an app or instance.
Where Samsung's MultiScreen SDK goes a step beyond is that it allows both the discovery of other screens and provides a way for further customization of how that code executes on the TV itself.
Pandora showed how MultiScreen would work with its Android app and a Samsung Smart TV using the SDK during the Dev Con keynote, and the results were impressive.
By simply walking into a room with a Samsung Smart TV, the Pandora app automatically detects the TV and sends the station and song
By simply walking into a room with a Samsung Smart TV, the Pandora app automatically detects the TV and sends the station and song to the TV instantly. On the TV is Pandora's full HTML5 10-foot experience, and it can be controlled off of the phone. Still, if the user left the room — or the house — the content continues to exist on the TV.
I spoke with Tom Conrad, Pandora's CTO and EVP of product about the MultiScreen SDK and how Pandora sees it as fitting into its future.
"We're really excited generally about this opportunity to bring people into the Pandora experience when they're not the ones who start the music," Conrad said.
He pointed out a scenario the team didn't demo on stage, but one the company thinks has a lot of potential: Allowing multiple users to control what songs are played off of a device using their phones. This is similar to some of the stuff Spotify Connect and Sol Republic have worked on from the audio side, but with the ability to also integrate with a TV.
Moreover, Conrad appreciates that Samsung is using existing web standards and open protocols with its SDK, because that makes it easy for the Pandora team to build in support into their apps.
Cross-Platform, to a Point
What's really interesting about the Samsung MultiScreen SDK is that although the protocol will only support Samsung TVs and Blu-ray players for now (2013 and 2014 models), app developers can use either iOS or Android.
Making the decision to open up to iOS and non-Samsung Android devices is a big deal. While speaking to Curtis Sasaki, Samsung's SVP and head of Media Solutions Center America, he made a point to mention the multi-platform aspect of the SDK. "That's an indicator that we're not thinking about this in this closed/Samsung-only space," Sasaki said.
Still, when I asked about whether Samsung would consider making its MultiScreen SDK more of an open protocol that other manufacturers and ODMs could use (say Sony or LG), the answer was less clear. "I'm not sure of the answer to that to be honest," Sasaki admitted. That's probably a decision that will need to be determined at the upper echelons at Samsung, but it's something I hope the company considers.
Easy to Integrate
During a breakout session that offered developers a preview of the MultiScreen SDK, the Samsung team showed code examples and reiterated how easily the company hopes to make it for devs to implement into their existing apps.
When the SDK goes live on Nov. 12, developers will be able to download toolkits for iOS and Android.
In the coming weeks, additional shims for a bevy of languages and JavaScript libraries will also be released and the team is actively seeking feedback from developers for more features and languages to support.
How Big Is This Market?
My one lingering question with the MultiScreen SDK is about potential market size. Right now, the MultiScreen SDK will only work with 2014 Samsung Smart TVs (those that are sold now) and 2013 models via software update.
According to Sasaki, Samsung had to make the decision to draw the line in the sand and require newer TVs because of what it wants developers to be able to do with the apps that execute within the TV platform.
That's largely because
one of the key advantages of leveraging this kind of technology is that the content doesn't run off of the phone
one of the key advantages of leveraging this kind of technology is that the content doesn't run off of the phone — saving battery and offering more reliable connections. The downside of this concept is that it will require more powerful hardware requirements.
"It's funny to realize that today's TVs have quad-core processors and state-of-the-art web browsers," Sasaki remarked.
Samsung will be bringing some of these features to their Blu-ray players and potentially other streaming devices in the future, but this still puts limits on the initial install base for this type of technology.
Samsung is the world's biggest TV maker and it sells millions of smart TVs every year. Still, some of the developers I spoke with were apprehensive about the addressable market size.
"We really like the idea behind this tech," said one developer — who asked not to be named. "But we worry about how many users we'll have and if it will be worth our while to do this stuff."
Samsung is going to try to reward those developers by giving them promotion inside the Samsung App Store on its Galaxy devices. Sasaki also told me that he hopes that developers will take the lead from bigger players such as Pandora, wanting to replicate those types of features to stay on the cutting edge.
Is the Future of Web Apps on the TV?
At the end of 2013, we're still having the debate about HTML5 vs native app development on mobile devices.
And although it's true that HTML5 is getting better than ever with experiences inching ever-closer to native, native app development has made a huge comeback in the last 18 months.
As a result, something interesting has happened: the best showcase for HTML5 technology is increasingly on the bigger screen.
Companies such as Netflix and Hulu are creating HTML5 versions of their content that easily scale and are easy to update across a bevy of devices that play back on the big screen. Plus, it's easy to download and update apps on a phone; on a TV, it's much more of a chore. That's why companies such as Pandora like to be able to use HTML5 on the TV when they can because it means always being able to offer the most updated experience to the user without having to worry about developing for a specific embedded system.
This is where I see the real potential of technologies such as Samsung's MultiScreen SDK. It gives app developers an easier way to target standards-based apps for the TV that doesn't require having to go through "developing a TV app."
We expect to see much more about multi-screen experiences from Samsung and other vendors, especially as we approach CES 2014. Stay tuned!
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
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