Speakercraft has been iPod aware for some time. The iPod docking station has made it possible to access and control an iPod's content via MODE Keypads since 2007.

Now it's possible to control a Speakercraft MZC66 from an iPhone or iPod Touch over WiFi.

Speakercraft have developed a custom web server to allow control of the system via the Safari browser built into the iPod Touch and iPhone. This offers some advantages over a native application written for the iPhone or iPod Touch but there are some watchouts to be aware of. we've had one on test since CEDIA and we've posted our initial thoughts here.

One of the advantages of going this route is simplicity and reliability - both key design principles for Speakercraft. As a web page it is only dependent on the Safari browser built into the iPhone. This means that Apple updates are highly unlikely to break it, unlike the some of the apps (applications) released through the App store. As an example, the last.fm client was broken when Apple upgraded from 2.0 to 2.1. These interruptions are usually fixed pretty quickly but Speakercraft's approach is a lower hassle route and they should be commended for that.

The other benefit of the simplicity of the approach is that this is a pretty quick and painless addition. Anyone with an iPod touch or iPhone and a Speakercraft MZC66 system can have this system implemented quickly with the addition of a piece of hardware at the rack.

The downsides of it being a web page implementation? The obvious one is speed. A web page is unlikely to be as fast as a native client. The Speakercraft implementation is good and they've clearly thought about performance so speed is not much of an issue, but it never quite feels as fast as a native application such as Apple's own Remote or indeed the Sonos app for their range of products.

Comparison with Remote also highlights the other main difference between a native app and a web app - use of the iPhone's hardware capabilities. The Speakercraft implementation makes use of the Landscape / Portrait abilities of the browser in an intelligent way, but it can't make use of the multitouch or momentum features that Remote uses to such good effect.

That's not meant to be too damning of this product. We've got one on display and we think it's pretty good. The industry thinks it's pretty good as well, it scooped a Best New Product award at CEDIA's 2008 EXPO. If you're interested, come and have a look.

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