BitTorrent, the leader in torrent file sharing, hopes to refresh its public offering by working with electronics manufacturers in an effort to create certified products able to stream BitTorrent files to and from PCs. Expanding from PCs and notebooks into the living room and across new platforms will open the door to new users interested in downloading and sharing content.
BitTorrent currently has around 100 million users, but they have to deal with a still-developing user interface that has frustrated many new users. The addition of BitTorrent-certified consumer electronics -- with some proof-of-concepts shown off during CES last week -- gave consumers the chance to see how they'll be able to share files directly in the living room.
BitTorrent has reached out to OEMs interested in utilizing the popular peer-to-peer technology in future products. Specifically, BitTorrent and the Taiwan Industralial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) wants to be able to stream BitTorrent files to HDTVs, Blu-ray players, and other standalone electronics.
"Today's generation of consumer electronics devices are more powerful than ever before, but they still lack cohesiveness and ease of use for content playback," said Shani Ghanem, BitTorrent chief strategist, noted in a press statement. "Consumers shouldn't need to differentiate between codecs, file formats, bit rates, and other technology jargon. Content playback should just work -- regardless of content type or source."
BitTorrent developers are optimistic about having products ready in 2011, but it's more likely consumers will have to wait until 2012 for a wide selection of user friendly products.
I think this is a great decision by BitTorrent, especially as as P2P looks for new ways to legitimize services in 2011. The newest BitTorrent has already added focus on apps and content available to users, and BitTorrent-certified products.
