Syncbak releases redesigned app with support for iPad

A little more than a year after unveiling its internet television platform, Syncbak this week completed the release of its mobile app’s second version (above). The app, which streams content in television markets where broadcasters have implemented Syncbak’s technology, boasts a redesigned user interface and added features. Users of the app can now see which…

A little more than a year after unveiling its internet television platform, Syncbak this week completed the release of its mobile app’s second version (above). The app, which streams content in television markets where broadcasters have implemented Syncbak’s technology, boasts a redesigned user interface and added features.

Users of the app can now see which content is live and set reminders to alert them of upcoming live content. With a DVR in the cloud feature, broadcasters now have the ability to make programming available after its original air date, as well. On iOS, the new app has native support for the iPad and iPad mini.

“The update allowed us to unify the interface for iOS and Android, being respectful, of course, of their inherent differences,” said Scott Leamon, Syncbak’s UX designer, in an email interview. Leamon said the enhanced app constitutes “a complete redesign – and we don’t want to have to do that again. We built the UI to scale.”

When Syncbak debuted its technology one year ago, the Marion, Iowa startup was working with 50 broadcasters in 35 markets. By the end of the year, Syncback counted more than 100 broadcasters in 70 markets as users or testers of its “over the top” (OTT) mobile platform, according to a company press release.

“Try as we might to stay in stealth mode, with all the stations we’ve got on the platform that is nearly impossible now,” Syncbak founder and CEO Jack Perry said in an email interview this week. “We’ve signed over 40 studios and distributors to deliver content over our platform and Syncbak has quietly been deployed in both New York and L.A. for several months now.”

The company’s biggest challenge is managing growth. “We went from a handful of stations piloting our mobile technology to now 40 broadcast groups, who own stations in every market. We’ve ramped up as quickly as we could, but still have a considerable backlog of stations waiting to get on the platform,” Perry said.

Last week, Perry attended CES in Las Vegas and saw attention being paid to television, including smart televisions that connect to the internet. But Perry believes mobile may be a more powerful way to provide content.

“The market, as I see it, is looking for convergence, but it isn’t a convergence between the web and television per se, it is a convergence between TV and mobile,” Perry said.

 

Credits: App image and Jack Perry photo courtesy of Syncbak.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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