Sling Media made this long awaited announcement at CES today: Sling Media, Inc., a digital lifestyle products company, and Palm, Inc., a leader in mobile computing, today announced SlingPlayer(TM) Mobile for Palm OS(R), making it possible to watch television on the 3G-enabled Palm(R) Treo(TM) 700p smartphone. SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS will feature a visually enticing graphical interface and enhanced navigation control while leveraging the functionality and ease of use of the Palm OS — and specifically the Treo smartphone — that customers have come to know and love.
‘Treo smartphone customers want the coolest new mobile applications and services, and Sling Media now delivers the same powerful mobile TV experience for our Palm OS users that our Windows Mobile Treo users already enjoy,’ said Mark Bercow, senior vice president of business development at Palm, Inc. ‘The Treo smartphone set the standard long ago for what a smartphone should be, and Palm continues to work with partners to deliver the best possible experience.’ 
SlingPlayer Mobile is a software client that gives Slingbox customers the ability to watch and control their home TV from a wirelessly enabled smartphone. With today’s announcement, SlingPlayer Mobile now supports Treo smartphones running both Palm OS and Windows Mobile, including the Treo 700p, the Treo 700w, the Treo 700wx and the recently announced Treo 750.
Unlike other services currently available for mobile phones and handheld computers, SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience. Anything that they can watch on their sofas back home, they can now watch via a Treo 700p smartphone. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile customers can control a home digital video recorder (DVR), such as a TiVo(R), to record shows, watch shows that have been previously recorded, and even pause and rewind live TV.
The mobile TV experience for Palm OS is powered by the award-winning Slingbox(TM), a breakthrough consumer electronics product that enables consumers to watch their living room TV programming from wherever they are by turning virtually any Internet-connected Windows-based laptop or desktop into a personal TV that can be viewed on the Treo 700p. The Slingbox redirects, or ‘placeshifts,’ a single live TV stream from a cable box, satellite receiver or DVR to the viewer’s PC — located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world, via the Internet.
Pricing and Availability
SlingPlayer Mobile for Palm OS is expected to be available in Q1 ’07 as a public beta download from Sling Media’s website, http://www.slingmedia.com. Pricing has not been finalized at this time.
About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc. is a digital lifestyle products company creating a family of consumer electronics solutions that are a natural extension of today’s digital way of life. The first member of the Sling Media family is the award-winning Slingbox, a device that allows consumers to access their familiar living room television experience at any time, from any location, using a variety of different displays including laptops and desktop PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones. For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visit http://www.slingmedia.com.
Written by Gary