14 DAY TRIAL // As weird as it may sound, both Microsoft and Apple received Emmy awards for their products, as the Academy also appears to honor companies and individuals that help power the technology that in the ends helps bring a movie on the big screen.
Apple, for example, has received the Emmy award for Apple TV in the “Contextual Voice Navigation for Discovering and Interacting with TV Content” section, while Skype brought Microsoft its own Emmy in a category called “Development of Integrated Consumer Video Conferencing Service into Broadcast Production Environments and Workflows.”
Several other tech companies have received Emmy awards as well, including YouTube (Video Identification Technology to Protect Content Value and Copyright) and Heavyworks (Pioneering Development of a Computerized Hard-Disk Storage Based Digital Non-Linear, Multi-Stream Multi-Camera System).
Both companies have received awards in the past years
This isn’t the first time Microsoft is getting an Emmy for the way it helped the Academy with its technology, as the company has previously received an award for “Television Enhancement Devices.”
Apple won an Engineering Emmy Award in 2011 for the iPad and in 2002 for Final Cut Pro, while in 2010 the company was rewarded with an Engineering Plaque for the Apple Final Cut Studio software suite.
In case you’re wondering why tech companies need to be honored at the Emmy awards event, Robert Seidel, Chairman of Technology & Engineering Achievement Committee, has a very simple explanation:
“These awards honor the technology companies and individuals whose innovation and vision have materially affected the way the audience views television and have set the standard for technological excellence in the industry.”
Neither Apple nor Microsoft released statements to reveal who they are grateful to for making it possible to get an Emmy, but statements are likely to be offered as we get closer to the show when all the winners will be honored. This year’s 69th Primetime Emmy Awards event takes place on September 17 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles with Stephen Colbert the host.