The ironically named Boxee, a company whose software allows users to watch online video content from sites such as YouTube and Hulu.com and listen to music from the internet on their TV, is ready to finally get a box.
Boxee is currently available as a software-only download but now the company says it wants to reach a wider group of less technically savvy users who may prefer to just buy a device and turn it on.
With this move Boxee will join a long list of companies from Apple TV to Roku and Netgear that are offering streaming media players to bring online web
content to the TV.
So why would Boxee want to jump into the
fray?
"A lot of people said we had great software but it is not mass market yet," says Gidon Coussin, vice president of business development for Boxee.
Last week Boxee ran a poll asking users for their opinion. "Overwhelmingly people voted to say they want a box," says Coussin.
But the Boxee box may not be exactly what its many existing customers may have in mind.
Boxee says it won’t be manufacturing the
hardware itself. Instead it hopes
to license its software to device manufacturers like Netgear or
Roku to put it into their existing and new devices.
It isn’t a hardware vs. software game, says Coussin. "Eventually
Boxee would like to be on as many platforms as possible." That means
allowing users to integrate the software into everything from Blu-ray disc players to videogame consoles where possible or buy a box with Boxee already running on it if
their existing hardware can’t support it.
Today Boxee users have to download the company’s software, install it on their PCs or Macs and then connect their computer to the TV. Or they can run Boxee software on Apple TV.
"The issue with connecting a computer to the TV is that if you don’t
have an extra one lying around, then you’re looking at about $500
investment," wrote Boxee on its blog.
Boxee is also not optimized for Apple TV hardware leading some users to look for other alternatives. "I used
to use Boxee on my Apple TV but since it doesn’t look like there will
be Netflix support I am actively looking for a small form-factor PC to
run it," says Tristan Smith, a claims supervisor at an insurance company and a recent Boxee user.
"If they could price their device in
the $200 to $300 range I think it would be a total game changer," says Smith.
Other users such as Drew Baumann say whereas Boxee software on another hardware maker’s box won’t have the same appeal, it will still be a "huge" improvement. "It wouldn’t have some of my dream features but it would be great to share Boxee with the masses."
At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this month, Boxee says it met with a few manufacturers who asked the company to makes it software available through boxes.
The idea is to get Boxee out to a wider, less tech-savvy audience that still wants to watch online video content.
But can Boxee avoid the problem of "box fatigue"? Increasingly users find their TVs connected to a number of devices including a set-top box and a streaming media player such as Apple TV among others things. A Boxee box could add to that noise.
Not so, says Coussin. "You could argue that we can replace many of the existing devices such as that DVD player or another media streamer," he says.
Photo: Boxee
