Kickstarter backers of the Matchstick Firefox OS Stick hardware, that successfully raised over $470,000 during October last year will be disappointed to learn that its developers have this week announced a delay to the launch of their pocket sized hardware, which will now take place during August 2015 rather than February 2015.
The delay has been caused by the team wishing to make alterations to the hardware and also the content providers that will be available to stream using the MatchStick hardware that is running Mozilla’s Firefox operating system.
The team explained in a comprehensive Kickstarter update that the MatchStick hardware is not going to start shipping during this month as expected. But that the following changes will be made to the system over the coming months, adding to the wealth of features and hardware specifications users can expect to enjoy once they receive the HDMI stick.
“Hardware: We want to update the hardware. We’ve been looking at a number of exciting applications and potential experiences for Matchstick and we’ve determined we need to give it as much power as possible. So we’ve been looking to increase the CPU power from a dual core to a quad core chip. We’ve also been looking into common issues with Wi-Fi performance. Because of the location of most HMDI ports on HDTVs, many similar products have Wi-Fi connectivity issues. We’ve spent some considerable time reviewing ways to improve the antenna to ensure a consistent connection that some of the applications will require. We’ll keep you posted of course on the newest stats and specifics! Finally, we are eating the cost to improve the hardware, and passing along the benefits of improved hardware to our backers. It’s a cost we are willingly paying for the promise of a better product.
Software: With a new processor, we have some new opportunities. Matchstick, with Firefox OS inside, is being updated to support DRM (Digital Rights Management) capability. As you know, many premium content providers such as Netflix require DRM support. Matchstick has undertaken the mission to develop DRM as an independent project with the open source community. In fact, we’d love for you to get involved! If you’re a developer specializing in EME, MSE, and CDM technologies, we’d love to hear from you. We plan to use the Microsoft PlayReady technology and are excited to bring premium content to Matchstick. We’ll keep you updated as we work to contribute newly developed source codes for DRM back to the open community. It’s our goal to make sure open source technology doesn’t mean 2nd tier content and experiences!
Content Providers: We are continually in talks with all the content you will want to experience on your Matchstick. DRM is a barrier and has become our primary focus, and as we work to nail that down we continue to explore new opportunities to upgrade the entire Matchstick experience. We have been looking at some very exciting possibilities! We can’t wait to show you in the coming months.
Independent developers: We’ve seen some incredible possible use cases for Matchstick and want to make sure the developer community’s creativity is not hindered by hardware or software limitations. We feel strongly about supporting developers with something much more than a hacked Chromecast type device. The updates to Matchstick will ensure that. “
For more information on the new Matchstick Firefox OS Stick jump over to the Kickstarter website for details.
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