The IntoMobile team attended a Pioneer press event this morning and it wouldn’t be out of line to call it one big, wet kiss to Apple. The company is making it clear that it views integrating Apple iOS products like the iPhone, iPod touch and the iPad into its line of receivers as a high priority and a major selling point to consumers.
The company showed off a line of receivers at the event and these clearly show that the Pioneer Apple iOS integration will run deep. As you’d expect, you can plug in your iOS devices to play content over it or you can stream via Bluetooth. The Pioneer Apple iOS integration really shines with some of the new apps and features we saw.
We looked at the AirPlay integration with Pioneer speakers and this worked superbly over WiFi. Songs played clearly and quickly and it only took a few taps to switch which speakers you wanted to have the music come from. The AirPlay service does have a much-nicer consumer face than something like DLNA, which has nearly all the same functionality (or more) than Apple’s standard.
The Pioneer Apple iOS integration also includes a new app called Air Jam. This app lets multiple iDevices connect to a single receiver via Bluetooth to create a group playlist. It’s a little difficult to do it full justice with words so check out our hands-on video of Air Jam in action.
What’s interesting to me is how up-front the company is about having Pioneer Apple iOS integration. It has really focused on the group of consumers that it has labeled “passionate Apple consumers” – these users have multiple Apple products and their iOS devices are the center of their multimedia experience.
The approach appears to be working, as the company said that since it has courted this demographic, its share in the North American receiver market has nearly doubled in about three years.
Check out the video below to see for yourself.