AirPlay’s Support for Third-Party Apps May Expand

AirPlay, one of the main feature additions in iOS 4.2, could soon work with third-party apps and Safari, according to a purported Steve Jobs e-mail that a reader sent to the MacRumors blog. The e-mail suggests that in 2011 users will be able to stream video to their Apple TVs from third-party applications and the Safari browser.

Apple introduced iOS 4.2 for iPhones and iPads last week, allowing users to stream videos, photos and audio wireless to an Apple TV box. But the feature came with many limitations, such as audio-only streaming from third-party apps and Safari. Even videos shot on an iPhone can’t be streamed from the phone to an Apple TV box.

These limitations will soon be lifted though, as the e-mail from Apple’s chief executive suggests. Jobs has replied to customers’ e-mails many times before, and this time he says AirPlay will get better. PCWorld is unable to verify the authenticity of the e-mail.

The reader asked Jobs whether Apple will allow video from third-party apps and Safari stream to an Apple TV, to which Jobs reportedly replied from his iPhone in his usual short manner: “Yep, hope to add these features to Airplay in 2011.”

Meanwhile, hackers kept busy with AirPlay and found an unofficial way to enable video streaming from third-party apps. The downside for this workaround is that you will have to jailbreak your iPad or iPhone in order to use it, which in turn means you risk voiding your warranty.

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