SHENZHEN, China, April 12, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- QQ Music (a subsidiary of Tencent, Inc.), China's leading digital music service provider, has announced an official partnership with Microchip Technology Inc.
Together, QQ Music and Microchip have launched a unique Cloud Music Streaming implementation of QQ Music called "QPlay," based on Microchip's industry-leading JukeBlox® music streaming connectivity platform. The JukeBlox network media processors and Software Development Kit (SDK) enable the makers of consumer electronic products to easily add feature-rich networking and Internet connectivity capabilities that now include China's premiere music service: QQ Music.
"We are delighted to work with Microchip on this partnership, as it allows music lovers to immerse themselves in a high-quality, personalized, cloud music experience. QPlay streams directly to users' home electronic audio products, while enabling the convenient use of their smart phones and tablets as remote controls via the QQ Music App," said Jackie Liao, GM of QQ Music. "We expect the extensive number of brands and products that already use the JukeBlox platform to enable faster time to market and growth for QQ Music's QPlay service, as well as build up a healthy digital music ecosystem that will bring new opportunities to China's digital music industry."
Microchip's JukeBlox technology is the leading connectivity solution for audio brands, worldwide. With the industry's only system-on-a-chip (SoC) and (SDK) for networked audio, Microchip is making the connected home a reality, and enabling consumers to access their local or cloud-based music content from any device and from any room in the home.
"We are truly excited about this partnership and to be adding China's strongest music service to our JukeBlox platform," said Gene Sheridan, senior vice president and general manager of SMSC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Microchip Technology Inc. "This new QPlay direct cloud streaming approach is innovative and very compelling, placing QQ Music's China customers on the leading edge of technology and listening experience. By making the QQ Cloud Music service available on the JukeBlox platform, virtually any consumer electronics company can quickly decide to add it into new or even existing products in the field, with just a firmware upgrade."
The QQ Music service boasts over two hundred million users, and features a powerful cloud playlist sync-up function whereby users can log into the QQ Music service from the QPlay App to access their QQ accounts. QQ Music users can now listen to their favourite songs and personal playlist collections through any JukeBlox platform-enabled music system. The JukeBlox platform can enable QQ Music streaming in virtually all home audio equipment, including home theatre systems, A/V receivers, radios, wireless speakers and portable-music-player docking stations. This is a tremendous opportunity for consumer electronic brands worldwide to reach the substantial QQ Music customer base and expand high-volume product sales into China. Many of the biggest brands in consumer electronics are using JukeBlox technology in their products, including Denon, Pioneer, Bowers-Wilkins, Bang-Olufsen and Philips, just to name a few. The first QPlay-enabled consumer products are expected to be available in calendar Q2 2013.
Note: The Microchip name and logo, and JukeBlox are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A. and other countries. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.
