Yesterday was a pretty low day in terms of moral for Chromecast developers, the latest update to the Chromecast SDK closed a loophole that two developers have been using up until that stage to ‘cast’ local media files to the Chromecast, effectively killing development in its tracks.
The Verge reached out to Google for comment on the situation and received a statement on the potential to bring local media streaming to Chromecast users :
We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content. It’s still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available.
It’s a bit of a ‘PR’ speak type response. It’s definitely early days for Chromecast in terms of development and also Google knowing exactly where they are aiming to go with Chromecast. It doesn’t really address at an API level exactly what developers can do though, Koush has pointed out exactly where the update to the Chromecast SDK stops potential for local streaming.
At this point Google needs to face some realities, the Chromecast is actually out in the real world and being used and relied upon by real users – albeit not technically outside of Australia – and to that effect they need to sort out the Beta nature of the Chromecast SDK pretty quickly or risk alienating developers who are finding their work – even if it was technically outside the confines of the SDK – completely shutdown. The Nebulous release date of a full Chromecast SDK needs to be sorted out as a matter of highest priority before they expect developers to buy into the Chromecast scene.
I still see the potential for Chromecast, I still have a couple on order, I still believe that Google can do something quite special with the Chromecast, BUT, they need to do it quickly, they need to do it now.’
What are your thoughts on the Chromecast SDK – Is Google mainly positioning the Chromecast for use by Media companies or do they truly believe in local streaming?
Yeah bit sad that they specifically closed the loop hole that the guys were using… still, the guys have shown that it is doable, know they can put their skills into doing other things with the Chromecast.
When the iPhone came out it had wow factor, and a set of launch apps, but no third party development. This put it at a clear disadvantage compared to existing equivalent ecosystems – Palm and WinCE. Then they added an API/SDK.
It’s OK to launch a product with fixed launch apps as long as you’re innovating (even just on price), it’s not like there’s a viable incumbent in the space they’re entering.
The API will stabilise, here’s hoping they do support local streaming in version 1 or 1.1.
This move seemed somewhat un-Google-like. Who knows, maybe they discovered a sploit that had something to do with local media streaming? There has to be a reason why they closed it, even if it’s an internal agreement type thing that we’ll never know about. It seems strange that it made it to market with that ability present, then closed so quickly.