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Barcelona is buzzing with excitement because of Mobile World Congress. I’m happy to report that the first day – the big news day – has gone very well. While many know Dolby for bringing surround sound in the cinema and revolutionizing the home theater experience, now people are starting to see that Dolby is bringing that same immersive, high-quality experience to the mobile entertainment space. This is exciting, as we have a lot of fun demos, cutting-edge devices, and terrific services to demonstrate. We are pleased to have several partners, including Voddler and Nokia, at our booth to speak with people about their own services and devices as they relate to Dolby technologies.
Today, we unveiled the world’s first mobile movie-streaming service for smartphones using Dolby Digital Plus audio. Voddler, a Cloud-based video-on-demand (VOD) provider, will provide high-quality movie streaming with cinematic Dolby surround sound to select Nokia devices, making it the first VOD service of its kind to deliver immersive surround sound. While Dolby Digital Plus already powers over-the-top streaming services including Netflix, HBO Go, Walmart’s VUDU and Best Buy’s CinemaNow, Voddler is the first provider delivering content directly to mobile devices. We expect this trend to continue.
In addition to making waves with a new service, a number of new devices carrying Dolby technologies launched today. In particular, the new Nokia 808 PureView smartphone revealed today is currently on display in the Dolby booth. This new phone includes Dolby technologies to dramatically improve the mobile entertainment experience and complement the other class-leading features of this stylish new device. The inclusion of Dolby technologies in the Nokia smartphones brings an extra dimension to the capabilities of the phone, transforming it into an HD mobile entertainment device, which can output high-definition (HD) content with Dolby Digital Plus 5.1-channel surround sound to HD-ready TVs, audio/video receivers (AVRs), and home theater systems. Additional Nokia smartphones on display include the Nokia 700, Nokia 701, and Nokia 603.
Huawei made news with its plans to incorporate Dolby Digital Plus audio into future smartphones and tablets. This means that Huawei will be the first portable device manufacturer in mainland China to use Dolby Digital Plus to bring consumers full-impact and authentic audio on mobile devices. Dolby also has devices from Acer, LG, Medion, Motorola, Pantech and Samsung being demonstrated at its booth.
This is our fifth Mobile World Congress and in that time we’ve seen tremendous progress in the mobile space: four out of the top five smartphone manufacturers and two out of the top four tablet makers in the world have chosen Dolby technology to deliver great entertainment on their devices. The industry is growing rapidly – it represents a large opportunity.
I look forward to reporting back tomorrow about what we’re seeing at the show and highlighting some of the most interesting news and activities.
- Daniel Schneider, PR
You can see more from Mobile World Congress 2012 in Dolby’s Flickr album.
