This week, I was lucky enough to spend some time in the company of Max Taylor (International Marketing Director, Mobile), and Mark Price (Public Relations Manager, EMEA), from Dolby Mobile. Many of you might remember that we covered Dolby's move in to Mobile as part of Will's CTIA coverage - out of that has spun a great chance to get some more info on a solution that is going to create a paradigm shift in the way audio is consumed on Mobile devices - I kid you not! Click the link to read the full interview…
The following Q&A is tagged up with IntoMobile's (Ben's) questions prefixed by [INTM], followed by Dolby's (Max and Mark's) replies prefixed by [DLBY].
[INTM]: So can you tell me a tiny about the Dolby's recent past, with respect to Mobile?
[DLBY]: Sure. We’re relatively new in to Mobile, and November 2007 was our first real customer win, with Sharp Japan, and DoCoMo. Dolby Mobile was deployed on the Sharp 906i, followed by the 906iTV in January 2008. We also have another product coming imminently!
Additionally, in November 2007 we acquired Coding Technologies - the owners of the patents to both the AAC+ audio codec (Most of you’ll have this on your new Mobile devices - Ben), and also MPEG-Surround, which is currently in the process of being ratified.
In February 2008, we attended the Mobile World Congress (a.k.a. 3GSM! - Ben), with a number of outcomes - apart from showing off our technology on Mobiles and PMPs (Portable Media Players - Ben), we also announced partnerships with RTI and Symbian.
[INTM]: That's great, thanks. Can you tell us a tiny more about your product, “Dolby Mobile”, please?
[DLBY]: Of course - Dolby Mobile sits at the chipset level, below the applications running on a device, and can act on all audio content to enhance the experience for the end-user. Dolby Mobile has a number of features:
- Mobile Surround - this is the “Up-mix” of flat stereo in to a virtual surround, giving a kind of “out of head” experience. Interestingly, we have found that it reduces fatigue that can sometimes occur through listening to music and other audio content, because the up-mix is done in a very natural way - consider how you hear sound(s) normally - they have the ability to be placed anywhere around you, and Mobile Surround intelligently emulates this.
- Sound Space Expander - this is for when a Mobile device is being used in a docking station. The docking stations typically have two speakers in close physical proximity to each other, and so we are able to enhance the sounds so that a more spatial effect is given
- Bass/EQ - these are the more common settings that you might expect find on a Mobile device, except they are delivered using Dolby's expertise in audio - in which we have a considerable heritage!
[INTM]: I should say! The Dolby “stamp” (techical term for logo - Ben) I would advocate, has got to be one of the most well-recognised in home AV, and the Dolby name is synonomous with class-leading audio quality! So tell me a tiny more about the Sharp/DoCoMo product - how is that working?
[DLBY]: We are really pleased with the way that deployment has turned out. Our engineers work closely with DoCoMo content team to advocate to them the ideal ways to “tune” the sound for the device, based on metadata that is added to the content. For example, on the Sharp 906iTV, the Television content contains (meta)data that grants the handset to know what profile to implement for the end-user to give optimal audio experience.
[INTM]: It sounds like that should give an awesome listening experience! Do you have something I can hear, like a demo?
[DLBY]: Absolutely!
(INTM checks out the N95-8GB device with a special “bonded” application, that gives the Dolby Mobile experience - and comes away very very impressed!)
[INTM]: That really is quite amazing - I was particularly impressed with both the enhancement to the movie clips, and also the music - it really does make the music come alive, but in a very natural way. I have the ability to also see what you mean about less “fatigue” using this enhancement, because the sound quality is much more “comfortable”, it that's the correct description - it just sounds right!
[DLBY]: So right now we’re working on the entire ecosytem - “from Hollywood to Handset“, as we call it! Dolby is already experienced in dealing with the Movie Studios and Content Providers, and our technology, as you noted, is in a wide variety of consumer electronics - from Home AV, to Personal computers, to Consoles, and so on. What we’re aiming to do is to reproduce the best possible experience for the consumer, no matter which device(s) they are using - and obviously a key part of that’s now Mobile.
[INTM]: That makes perfect sense - with the “Convergence” of the in-house/out-and-about experience, end-users are looking to be able to consume content across a number of disparate platforms, whilst both time-shifting and place-shifting - maintaining audio and visual quality whilst this is going on is quite tricky, but I see Dolby as being exceedingly well-placed to do this! So, how do you feel about your competition?
[DLBY]: We feel we’re well-positioned against our competition. We’ve been working with key Content Providers for a very long time , and our brand is synonomous with quality. Additionally, unlike some of our competition, our technology isn’t tied to a particular application, and/or content type.
[INTM]: So, a few final thoughts from you both - your feelings on (a) the B&O/Samsung Serenata, and (b) the iPhone!
[DLBY]: As regards the Serenata, it's great! This sort of specialist device, along with the high-end devices and PMPs, is exactly where we think Dolby Mobile can bring something to the table right now. As for the iPhone, it is a great device that sets a new benchmark in many ways. By the way, Apple is a licensee of many Dolby technologies (though not a Dolby Mobile at this instant).
[INTM]: Well thanks very much Max and Mark for your time - I’m looking forward to seeing your technology inside my next handset!
(Footnote: this technology is the real deal - the demo I heard was truly excellent, with great pick-up on both the EQ-ing of the audio, and also the spatialisation. The overall volume was also “louder”, but not in terms of pure noise - rather a much “fuller” sound. As I stated at the begin of this article - these guys are serious, and are bringing an breathtaking pedigree to bear on Mobile - I for one am willing Dolby to suceed, because their technology genuinely drives the progress of Mobile devices!)
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Related Articles at IntoMobile:
- Dolby set to enter Mobile
- Dolby Digital shows off Dolby Surround Sound on Nokia N95 8GB
- Dolby brings surround sound to mobile phones and portable media players
- Beatnik announces new audio format for Mobile Phones - 10 times smaller than MP3!!
- Symbian OS just got an advanced SQL, LBS and Dobly Digital upgrade
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