Open Interface North America

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]

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

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. 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. 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. 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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