OTT Specialist, Vudu, Unveils Vudu Apps: Will Be Deployed by Mitsubishi, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba

Vudu, a company hitherto best known for its over-the-top streaming video service, the Vudu Streaming Movie Service, on Wednesday announced Vudu Apps, a platform for the delivery of Internet applications and services to home theaters, HDTV's and Blu-ray Disc players (BDP's). The company also said that Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Sanyo, Sharp and Toshiba America Consumer Products have adopted Vudu Apps as their platform for the delivery of Internet services directly to their connected HDTV's and that Toshiba will also integrate the platform into its line of connected BDP's. Devices that incorporate Vudu Apps are scheduled to begin shipping later this quarter.

According to Vudu, Vudu Apps provides consumers with access to a broad range of Internet-based services and applications, including streaming video, music-on-demand, photo browsing, and social networking. The company says that the platform uses a cloud-based architecture that has been optimized for CE devices, and that it supports the development of responsive apps designed specifically for use on HDTV's, without the need for downloading or installing software--thus ensuring that consumers always have access to the most current version of an application. "We are excited to be making convergence in the living room into a reality," Vudu chairman and CEO, Alain Rossmann, said in a prepared statement. "Vudu Apps is enabling the delivery of the highest quality entertainment from a broad range of Internet services directly on living room devices such as TV's and Blu-ray players. Vudu Apps delivers hundreds of new applications and services from leading names in Internet and media entertainment, with new ones being added each week. By integrating Vudu Apps into their broadband HDTV's and BDP's, our consumer electronics partners are able to deliver a product that continues to improve long after the customer has left the store." Added Jeff Litvack, general manager of mobile and emerging products for the Associate Press, a Vudu Apps content provider: "Vudu Apps has enabled us to extend the reach of our original reporting to millions of connected TV's manufactured by the market's top brands through a single application that works seamlessly across multiple platforms."

According to Vudu, Vudu Apps was originally developed to support Vudu's Streaming Movie Service. By integrating at the hardware level, the company says, the platform is able to "take full advantage of today's advanced broadband devices." According to the company, Vudu Apps has enabled the movie service to easily integrate popular Internet services such as Rotten Tomatoes and Wikipedia directly into its user interface.

Initially, over 100 applications are slated to be available on Vudu Apps, providing access to such services as Pandora, Picasa, Flickr, Dailymotion and the New York Times. A full list of participating service providers is available here.

Vudu also announced Wednesday that its Streaming Movie Service will be available on a number of connected home theaters, HDTV's and BDP's from LG Electronics, Mitsubishi, Samsung, Sanyo, Sharp, Toshiba and Vizio. "In 2010, millions of broadband HDTV's and BDP's will ship to consumers with Vudu installed," Vudu's Rossmann said in a prepared statement. "It's a great achievement for Vudu and a fantastic opportunity to deliver the Vudu experience to consumers across the United States. In just six months, from the time we launched on our first HDTV, we've increased our footprint more than ten-fold. By delivering a cloud-based architecture we have made it incredibly easy for our CE partners to embed Vudu into more products, while at the same time enabling the service to be continuously updated--to the delight of our end-users."

According to Vudu, its Streaming Movie Service provides access to a catalog of over 3,000 on-demand HD movies in the company's own HDX format (which it bills as "the only streaming video format with 1080p HD video and Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround sound available to consumers today"), and new movies on the service are available day-and-date with their DVD release. The service's movies are offered for rent or to own, without a monthly subscription.