An article to understand the progress of IBM, Microsoft, Apple, Google and other big companies in the blockchain

Editor's Note: This article comes fromBlockchain Camp (ID: blockchain_camp), Author: Gareth Jenkinson, Translator: Huohuojiang, reprinted with authorization by Odaily.

Editor's Note: This article comes from

Blockchain Camp (ID: blockchain_camp)

Blockchain Camp (ID: blockchain_camp)

Over the past few years, several of the world's largest technology companies have been working together to research and integrate blockchain technology.

IBM

Bitcoin's strong bull run in 2017 sparked a massive frenzy, which in part propelled blockchain technology to quickly become the latest buzzword in the tech world. During this time, many startups have entered the fray, with entrepreneurs hoping to cash in on the hype in the space.

Larger companies that do not realize the benefits of this technology risk being left behind, still carefully exploring solutions in their own enterprise business mechanisms. Others have already begun to explore the potential benefits blockchain can bring to their existing systems.

This includes some of the biggest names in tech, such as IBM, Samsung, Google, Sony and Apple.

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American technology giant IBM has applied for numerous blockchain technology patents, causing quite a stir in the blockchain field. The company has been leading the frequency of blockchain usage since 2014 and is far ahead of other companies in developing and using blockchain-based solutions.

One of IBM's first forays into the technology was to explore whether blockchain technology could power the Internet of Things. Born out of a collaboration with Samsung, the Address Energy in Parallel Technologies project, or ADEPT for short, enables home appliances to autonomously interact with their surroundings.

IBM Blockchain is an enterprise-grade blockchain solution for large enterprises and corporations. The platform allows users to join existing blockchains and even create new ones that suit their needs. IBM’s website estimates that there are more than 500 active blockchain projects running on the platform. These projects span multiple industry sectors, including trade finance, supply chain and identity services.

Microsoft

This includes TradeLens, a supply chain management platform developed by shipping giant Maersk with IBM, designed to track real-time data on the progress of shipping transactions across the licensed network.

IBM’s Food Trust Blockchain is another notable platform that has attracted a number of large conglomerates over the past two years. Companies such as Nestlé, Unilever, and leading US retailer Walmart are using the blockchain-based food tracking platform.

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Microsoft

Azure Blockchain Workbench helps developers deploy the network using existing infrastructure, which it claims reduces the development time required to create in-house solutions. Includes automated ledger deployment, network building, and pre-built blockchain commands.

Samsung

American coffee company Starbucks has deployed the Azure Blockchain platform to track its coffee beans from origin to stores around the world.

The global airline GE Aviation also uses the Azure Blockchain service to record and track the details of aviation parts, a process that was done on paper in the past, which was time-consuming and costly. Companies such as Singapore Airlines, Nasdaq, 3M, and Xbox are also using the Azure Blockchain platform in their various products.

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Samsung

South Korean tech giant Samsung is an interesting player in the cryptocurrency and blockchain space for a number of reasons.

Samsung also launched the Blockchain Keystore app marketplace in 2019 to integrate cryptocurrency support into its smartphones. Its main application launched is a cryptographic wallet for users' private keys.

sony

This feature has been introduced in the Samsung Galaxy S10 smartphone and is currently available for the six models of Samsung S10e, S10, S10+, S10 5G, Note10 and Note10+. Since then, a plethora of blockchain-based apps have appeared on the Blockchain Keystore, and the Galaxy S10 smartphone now supports an even greater number of cryptocurrencies.

Additionally, the company’s IT arm, Samsung SDS, has also joined the fray in the enterprise blockchain space. Launched in 2017, the platform aims to compete with enterprise blockchain solutions from the likes of IBM and Microsoft. Businesses can use the blockchain platform to create and manage their own payments, supply chains, identity credentials and smart contract services.

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sony

Japanese IT company Sony is best known for its electronics, but it's also doing some interesting things with blockchain technology. The company took a slightly different approach in evaluating the technological possibilities, ultimately picking the areas that would benefit the most -- education, music rights, and sampling.

Educational institutions or companies can access verified, tamper-proof educational records of relevant applicants or students. On the other hand, students and scholars can also access their learning records in real time.

Sony has also found uses for artificial intelligence and blockchain technology in the music industry. According to their Soundmain page description, Sony started to venture into the very challenging field of artificial intelligence around 2013. In terms of sound and music production, it is very difficult for machines to distinguish between different instruments and sounds in music, because this is a uniquely human ability.

However, Sony's developments in artificial intelligence have allowed for some breakthroughs in audio separation technology. Its Soundmain platform helps users separate different sounds into multiple channels from source audio that has been mixed to single or dual channels.

The software is intended to be used as a tool for handling audio mixing and resolving audio copyright issues. Artists can record full sets of live performances and then use software recognition to separate the different instruments into separate channels. The emergence of blockchain technology solves the copyright problem of different music samples, and composers or musicians can be compensated if their samples are used by other studios.

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Google and Apple stay on the sidelines

Google and Apple are the undisputed tech giants in IT, but both companies have distanced themselves from blockchain technology and anything crypto-related for years.

Both companies have been criticized by the cryptocurrency community for their tough stance on decentralized applications in the Google Play and Apple App stores. In response, the companies said they did so to protect users from malware.

This hardline stance has led to some major exchanges, such as Coinbase, being forced to remove their cryptocurrency wallet DApps from the Apple Store due to unresolved developer guidance issues.