Epiphany Strikes Belkin, Adds Apps to New 802.11n Wireless Routers

Posted 03/25/2010 at 6:08am | by Paul Lilly

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Belkin, apparently inspired by the "explosion of multimedia content," is adding app support to its new wireless routers, the company announced on Wednesday.

"In a recent IDC survey, 72 percent of respondents own a digital still camera and use it at least once a month in the home," Belkin said. "As such, we can expect that more people will want to share their photos and videos in more places."

Belkin's detective work didn't stop there, and the company cited a Forrester study in which the digital music market has grown to $3 billion in the U.S. in 2008. Looking to capitalize on all this, Belkin's "Surf, Share, Play, and Play Max Wireless Routers" will offer a variety of apps, including Music Mover, which lets users play their entire music library on smart devices.

But it's not all about fun play. The Print Genie app allows uses to wirelessly print from any computer on the network, while the Memory Safe app performs automatic backups of photos and files to an external drive (sold separately, of course). Other apps include:

• Self Healing: Automatically detect and resolve network problems
• Music Labeler: Automatically identifies and labels tracks with correct title, artist, and genre
• Daily DJ: Provides personalized playlists from your music library based on your mood
• Torrent Genie: Downloads large media files whether your PC is on or off
• Bit Boost: Prioritizes traffic on your network for video, gaming, and VoIP

Not all apps are available on all routers. Look for the new line to be made available in April starting at $50.