Logitech teams with Rovi on navigation app for mobile devices

Logitech (Nasdaq: LOGI) has teamed up with Rovi (Nasdaq: ROVI) on new apps that allow cable and satellite subscribers to use smart phones, Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL) iPad and other mobile devices as a remote control.

Rovi, which licenses interactive program guides to Charter Communications (Nasdaq: CHTR), Cox Communications and other major cable MSOs, is supplying TV listings data to Logitech for its mobile apps.

Logitech's navigation app relies on a $99, WiFi enabled, disc-shaped device called the Logitech Harmony Link. The device, similar to the Peel Fruit universal remote control designed for the iPad and iPhone, lets viewers user their smartphone or tablet to channel surf.

In addition to TV listings data, Rovi is supplying Logitech with program synopses, movie overviews and images for the mobile apps.

Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA), Time Warner Cable (NYSE: TWC), Cablevision (NYSE: CVC), and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) have also built apps for Apple's iPhone, iPad and other mobile devices that allow users to navigate TV content. Logitech's product may be better fit for viewers that don't subscribe to cable or satellite subscription packages. For Rovi, which also distributes guides for connected TVs, the app shows how the IPG vendor is relying on new sources of revenue outside of the cable and satellite universe.

For more:
- see news release

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