Audible Releases First AudibleReady Developer Platform
WAYNE, N.J. --(Business Wire)-- July 12, 2004 --
-- Software Development Kit Builds Upon Broad Industry Acceptance of Audible's Spoken Word Delivery and Mobile Device Playback Standard
Audible, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBL),the leading provider of digitally delivered spoken word audio, today made the AudibleReady Client SDK Version 1.0 available for license to third-party developers. The Software Development Kit (SDK) will enable original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of mobile audio devices, as well as Audible's original design manufacturer (ODM) and integrated circuit vendor (ICV) partners to simply and rapidly adopt Audible's technology for seamless download, transfer, and playback of the more than 50,000 hours of spoken word audio programming available for download at Audible.com(R).
AudibleReady(R) platform components have already been adopted by partners who manufacture or provide components for more than 100 MP3 players, PDAs, or "smart" wireless telephone models. Current AudibleReady platform partners include Apple Corp., Sony Electronics, Creative Labs, Rio Audio, PalmOne Inc, Microsoft Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company, Gateway, Inc., and, with the announcement on Thursday, July 8, Audible welcomed Samsung Electronics to the family of platform partners who have adopted components of Audible's SDK.
"The release of the first AudibleReady Client SDK represents an important step forward for Audible's platform, partnership, and growth strategies," stated Guy A. Story, Chief Scientist, Audible Inc. "After nearly nine years of development and seven years of ongoing refinement in the marketplace, the AudibleReady standard for the end-to-end packaging, secure delivery, and playback of spoken word content by portable devices has achieved broad industry adoption. We consider this SDK release to be an important element of the continued adoption of our spoken word platform standard for mobile devices, and the first step in our intention to selectively license additional elements of our platform to our business partners."
"Samsung has decided to adopt the AudibleReady platform in a number of our handheld digital audio devices," said Simon Chang, Director of Samsung's yepp Marketing Team. "Last Thursday's announcement of AudibleReady Yepp and Napster MP3 players signals the first of many Samsung devices that will ship with Audible technology."
"VoiceAge is excited to support this initiative by providing to the first AudibleReady SDK our ACELP(R).net codec, proven over the years to be the best choice for low bit rate narrowband and wideband technology for Internet content," added Laurent Amar, President of VoiceAge Corp. "Working with partners like Audible facilitates the wide dissemination of ACELP(R).net to listeners who care about audio quality."
The AudibleReady Client SDK enables Audible's partners to support the Company's Internet audio service in current and future audio devices and multimedia platforms with a minimum of development. Some of the key elements of the AudibleReady SDK program include:
-- Support for secure playback of audio content, in Audible's proprietary format and DRM, with the full complement of AudibleReady spoken word user experience features.
-- Secure access technologies that allow automated downloads of audio directly to devices and personal computers.
-- Integrated support for ACELP(R).net speech compression from VoiceAge Corporation.
To join the developer program, a partner need only contact Audible and sign an AudibleReady Client Developer license. The developer partner then receives the SDK for integration into the relevant device or system. Audible provides technical support to licensees. The fee-free license contains marketing obligations to insure that the subsequent Audible support will result in new consumer customers for Audible's service. As part of the program, Audible will certify each complete and successful implementation as "AudibleReady."
Over the next few weeks Audible will make available the AudibleReady Client SDK for a variety of platforms and processors, including Windows Mobile, Palm OS, Philips processors, Texas Instruments OMAP and DSP, ARM-based processors, and others.
About Audible, Inc.:
Audible(R) (www.audible.com(R)) is the Internet's leading premium spoken audio source. Content from Audible is downloaded and played back on personal computers, CDs, or AudibleReady(R) computer-based mobile devices. Audible has 50,000 hours of audio programs from more than 165 content partners that include leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers. Audible.com is Amazon.com's and the Apple iTunes Music Store's pre-eminent provider of spoken word products for downloading or streaming via the Web. Additionally, the Company is strategically aligned with Random House, Inc. in the first-ever imprint to produce spoken word content specifically suited for digital distribution, Random House Audible. Among the Company's key business relationships are Apple Corp., Creative Labs, Gateway, Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, Microsoft Corporation, palmOne, Inc., PhatNoise Inc., RealNetworks, Inc., Rio Audio, Roxio, Inc., Sony Electronics, Texas Instruments Inc., and VoiceAge Corporation.
Audible, www.audible.com, AudibleListener, and AudibleReady are registered trademarks of Audible, Inc. and all are part of the family of Audible, Inc. trademarks.
Other product or service names mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release contains information about Audible, Inc. that is not historical fact and may be deemed to contain forward-looking statements about the company. Actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in any forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, Audible's limited operating history, history of losses, uncertain market for its services, and its inability to license or produce compelling audio content and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the company's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
