Hasta La Gadget!

Remember Chumby, the cute media player that allows users to pick information widgets and then streams it from the internet?

It is set to get a wider platform as the company executives have decided to port its software on to other gadgets to create a “powered by Chumby” brand, reports Forbes.

The move means instead of selling just the Chumby device, its makers can license the software that powers it to other companies who want similar functionality in their gadgets. Chumby, for instance, can pull together information such as weather, music, news and photos from the Web and stream it to the user.

The $200 Chumby launched in the U.S. in February 2008 and is currently available in U.K, Japan, Australia. But the device hasn’t been a hit among consumers. Moving away from a single box strategy and licensing its software could bring greater exposure to the device and the concept behind it, beleive Chumby executives. It’s a strategy that other gadget makers have tried. Earlier this year GPS navigation device maker, Dash, killed its box and shifted its focus from selling hardware-based GPS devices to just licensing its applications and services to run on other products. In June, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion acquired Dash.

Chumby is betting on a similar strategy. The company is already negotiating with companies such as Sony, Samsung, Broadcom and Marvell to be included in products such as digital picture frames, TVs and Blu-ray players.  Chumby powered gadgets are expected to be available this holiday season, the first of which is likely to be a digital photo frame.  Photo frames with Chumby software could include pictures from sites such as Flickr, internet radio, weather and even twitter feeds.

Photo: Chumby