Smart TV Alliance, launched in June this year by founding board members LG Electronics and TP Vision with Toshiba joining shortly after, has expanded with new members with expertise from different areas of the Smart TV industry.

As it continues to expand its market reach, the Smart TV Alliance will publish specifications for its software development kit (SDK) 2.0 on its official website www.smarttv-alliance.org. The actual SDK tool will be made available by the end of the year for use by developers.

Qualcomm and MStar will bring their expertise and understanding in hardware design to the consortium while Obigo, a web browser provider and application developer, will provide input from a developer?s perspective. And YuMe, a provider of video advertising software and services, will deliver knowledge and experience from the advertising community.

Demonstrating that developing common Alliance specifications is not an exercise in theory only, Obigo has developed apps based on Alliance SDK 1.0 specifications that run consistently on TV sets from Alliance members. Consumers will be able to enjoy these apps, including Accuweather and Vilanoise, when they become publicly available in September. In addition, more apps will be developed and become available through Smart TV Alliance members.

As different communities in the Smart TV industry come together, the Smart TV Alliance will announce the SDK 2.0 specifications on its website, which will be supported by 2013 products from member companies. By looking at these specifications, developers will be able to understand what capabilities to expect on 2013 products and plan their application development accordingly. After the specifications are announced, the SDK software tool will be available for download from www.smarttv-alliance.org.