American multi-room manufacturer Speakercraft have launched an iPhone interface for their MODE audio system.SpeakerCraft was one of the first companies to introduce a multiroom audio system that incorporated metadata from an iPod.
Now the company is taking its ties with Apple to use the iPhone as an interface for the MODE distributed-audio system.It allows the Apple iPhone or iPod Touch to be used as a wireless system remote, controlling all sources and routing via the touch screen through an intuitive GUI. The interface is generated through an embedded Web server residing inside SpeakerCraft’s ERS 1.0 Ethernet-to-serial adapter. Since the interface is accessed through the iPhone’s Safari browser, there’s no software to install on the phone (or iTouch).
SpeakerCraft president Jeremy Burkhardt commented “They will now be able to offer their customers the easiest systems to use in the industry. Our current relationship with Apple which allows us to control and display metadata from the iPod has already dramatically enhanced our control offering. This latest development, utilizing the Safari browser on the iPhone or iPod Touch to control the system, will expand SpeakerCraft’s control offering even further.I hate to say it, but this is the beginning of the end for keypads,Soon any keypad that isn’t emulated on a device like the iPhone will be obsolete.”
The UK retail price is £750.00 inc VAT which is for the complete kit of an RSA -1.0, ERS -1.0 and a 5v power supply