HTC has made multimedia capabilities a bigger selling point for its phones recently — there's no ignoring the constant reminder of Beats Audio integration, and its Media Link HD accessory could make for a good AirPlay competitor. However, the company just upped its play for the living room with the announcement of HTC Connect, a certification program designed to get consumer electronics makers to built devices that will work right out of the box with HTC's devices. The goal for HTC Is to let owners of its handsets wirelessly send audio and video to home theater and in-car solutions. HTC will be using a number of standards in its certification program — initial products will be based on DLNA, with plans to evolve the program to include Bluetooth, NFC, and other wireless speakers as well.

This initiative, which reminds us a bit of Apple's MFi program, should get a big boost from Pioneer, its first announced partner. HTC Connect technology should start showing up in Pioneer's 2012 line of DLNA-capable receivers and wireless speakers; the company has also promised to extend the HTC Connect program to future products. While it'll take some time for HTC's latest initiative to achieve the widespread adoption of Apple's program, we definitely like the focus on wireless transmission. While Pioneer is the first A/V partner, HTC's One series of phones will be the first mobile devices to receive HTC Connect certification through a forthcoming software update.