Ericsson releases OpenWebRTC and launches iOS browser for webrtc

Ericsson has released its own implementation of the webrtc standard, called OpenWebRTC, as open source. The company has also submitted its Bowser browser to Apple. Bowser is according to Ericsson the first iOS browser with Webrtc support.

Webrtc allows chat and video services to run without plug-ins in compatible browsers. Ericsson has made its own implementation of the HTML5 technology under the name OpenWebRTC. On Thursday, the company announced that it would offer OpenWebRTC as open source. Ericsson hopes in this way to accelerate the development of Webrtc applications. OpenWebRTC is based, among other things, on the open source media framework GStreamer.

In addition to releasing OpenWebRTC, Ericsson has submitted its Bowser browser to Apple. It claims to be the first browser on iOS to support the webrtc protocol. The company says it is waiting for Apple to approve Bowser so that it can be included in the App Store.

Bowser is not entirely new; Ericsson released an early version of Bowser in 2012 on both the App Store and Google Play. However, the company withdrew its experimental browser with a first Webrtc implementation at the beginning of this year. A new Android version is not planned.

Webrtc was originally developed by Google. An open web standard has been worked on in collaboration with the Web Real-Time Communications Working Group of the W3C. Chrome and Firefox, among others, support the technology, both based on Google’s implementation of the standard. With the arrival of OpenWebRTC from Ericsson, there is more choice for developers. Incidentally, Apple has now also joined the webrtc working group, which means there is a considerable chance that future Safari versions for iOS will support webrtc.