Open Interface North America, Inc.
TypePrivate
IndustryBluetooth
Founded2000
HeadquartersSeattle, Washington, USA
Websitewww.oi-us.com (archived)

Open Interface North America (OINA) was a privately owned embedded Bluetooth software provider based in Seattle, Washington and was incorporated in 2000 as a division of the Japanese company Open Interface, Inc., which had formed in 1992.[1][2] Akemi Sagawa, a Microsoft product manager at the time, was hired to run it.[3][4] Another former Microsoft employee, Greg Burns, was brought in as chief technology officer.[5]

OINA created and sold Bluetooth software stack products to chip companies with a focus on mobile devices; OINA products were included in Apple’s iPhone, Motorola’s Razr LG’s Chocolate music phone,[4][6] and Logitech's FreePulse headphones.[7] The Logitech deal was based on OINA's product, SOUNDabout Lossless, a lossless audio codec for bluetooth; SOUNDabout had very little lag and high fidelity, supported multi-channel streaming, and allowed headphone manufacturers to avoid decoding MP3 or AAC, which would have required them to pay royalties on those decompression software packages.[2][8][9]

In 2004, OINA had a change in ownership.[4] According to Dashlight Systems, which was founded by Tom Nault in 2003 to develop Bluetooth technology and intellectual property, Dashlight acquired a controlling interest in OINA in May 2004 and Nault became Chairman of the Board of OINA at that time.[10]

Nault became CEO in April 2006[11] and Sagawa became the company president.[4]

OINA was acquired by Qualcomm in December 2007 under an agreement signed by OINA, Qualcomm, Osprey Acquisition Corporation, and Dashlight;[12] the deal terms were not disclosed.[11][13]

References

  1. ↑ State of Washington Open Interface North America, Inc. Page accessed April 18, 2016
  2. 1 2 Charles Bermant and Seattle Times staff. December 4, 2006 This week: Open Interface North America
  3. ↑ Deborah Knox for Poets and Quants. August 9, 2015 Stanford MBAs 25 Years Later: Where They Are & Life’s Core Lessons
  4. 1 2 3 4 Brier Dudley for the Seattle Times. August 1, 2007 Wireless hi-fi from Seattle’s Open Interface
  5. ↑ OINA via PR Newswire.. Apr 16, 2002. Press release: Open Interface North America Releases BlueMagic(TM) 3.0 to Target the Embedded Bluetooth(TM) Wireless Connectivity Market
  6. ↑ Daniel Eran Dilger for Apple Insider. July 02, 2007 Apple's iPhone: an initial (but in-depth) review
  7. ↑ Bill Ray for The Register. Jan 9, 2008 Qualcomm quietly buys up Bluetooth experts
  8. ↑ Tim Gideon for PC Mag. Aug 1, 2007 Lossless Bluetooth Audio Coming Soon
  9. ↑ Rick Merritt for EE Times. August 1, 2007. Codec cranks for wireless stereo headsets
  10. ↑ Dashlight Systems About Page accessed April 17, 2016
  11. 1 2 John Cook for Seattle PI. January 14, 2008 Qualcomm buys Open Interface
  12. ↑ Qualcomm Form S-8 filed 01/24/08
  13. ↑ Matt Marshall and Saumil Mehta for Venture Beat. July 23, 2008 MobileBeat: Mobile success stories
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