BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS — Chip maker Qualcomm has teamed up with DoubleTwist, the creator of one of the most popular media players for Android, to develop a new media streaming service called MagicPlay. The open source protocol will allow any Android device to stream media — including music, movies, and photos — to anything with a Qualcomm chip running the AllJoyn protocol, competing with existing streaming services like DLNA.

MagicPlay doesn’t just work on smartphones and tablets — it literally supports anything with a Qualcomm chip that’s capable of running AllJoyn, including speaker systems, televisions, in-car entertainment systems, and more. The service works over Wi-Fi, “avoiding the headaches of pairing on Bluetooth,” according to DoubleTwist.

Because MagicPlay is open source, it can be adopted by device manufacturers and third-party software developers. And it’s those device manufacturers that have inspired the birth of the new service.

“Over the last year we have been asked by many device makers if we could develop a simple and universal solution for the consumer electronics market that would serve the hundreds of millions of Android and other devices outside the Apple ecosystem,” said Jon Lech Johansen, of doubleTwist.

“MagicPlay enables users to amplify their smartphone’s music and enjoy it on any speaker or entertainment system. Our partnership with Qualcomm will enable OEMs to easily integrate this functionality with devices they bring to market.”

As you might expect, DoubleTwist’s media player for Android will be the first to adopt MagicPlay, with an update scheduled to hit Google Play this spring. At the same time, DoubleTwist will release the source code to third-party developers who will then be able to integrate it into their own apps.

Although the MagicPlay doesn’t really deliver anything we haven’t seen before from features like DLNA and Apple’s AirPlay, another option for consumers can only be a good thing.