Boxee announces first hardware partner deal, more info next month

They say competition is a gift to help you change, so good news for Apple TV fans as that particular set-top box now has even more competition when it comes to streaming entertainment, as the Boxee team have announced a partnership with a company which will bring a set top box equipped with the team’s technology, first sight of which comes December 7.

“We have signed our first partnership with a CE company. At this point we can not say more about the partner or the specs of the device, but we can tell you we are working closely with them to make sure we deliver a great Boxee experience on it,” the company said.

Boxee launched its public alpha for Mac/Linux in January at CES, where the company also met with several device manufactures interested in embedding Boxee into their existing devices or building a dedicated Boxee device.

“Over the next few years there will be a great change in the way we consume entertainment on our TV. The Internet is (finally) coming to the TV and with it will come a whole new world of content, applications and innovations,” the team enthusiastically explains.

The Boxee team are working to create a platform that makes it easy to find and consume sundry content no matter where it is from, which platform, which media type. They also want to work with content creators to develop business models, and to work with partners to get support for Boxee software inside as many devices as possible. “Our goal is to be on every connected device in the living room,” the group explains.


Boxee is cross-platform free media centre software that’s equipped with social networking features. Currently under development, alpha releases are available for Mac OS X, Windows, Linux as well as the Apple TV.

The company will reveal its Boxee Beta on December 7 at 7pm at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, where information on the new box will also be revealed.

The Beta will feature:
    •    new user interface
    •    improved navigation
    •    search TV Shows and Movies
    •    a user controlled Queue
    •    shortcuts
    •    more…

The company is backed by venture capital firms General Catalyst Partners Union Square Ventures and Spark Capital.