July 1st, 2009
All I Want for Christmas is a Boxee Set-Top Box
I was oh-so-innocently trying to learn about businesses that curate Twitter content, so I watched all 45 minutes of the Howard Lindzon and Fred Wilson chat on howardlindzon.com, hoping to get just a little bit of the secret-sauce behind StockTwits.
What I wasn’t expecting, though, was about 40 minutes in when Fred Wilson said: “This holiday season there will be Boxee boxes in the stores. So you can go to the store and get a Boxee box and you can take it home and connect it to your TV and you’re done.” (Though he did say later that Boxee will not be making the boxes).
This is amazingly awesome news for Boxee (and for me!).
Why? I see at least 7 reasons (this list started out with 3 FYI):
1. Differentiation from other online video platforms
Outside of YouTube and Hulu, there are a myriad of other ways to consume video online and a whole truckload more in development. By making the link between the computer and the television, Boxee is taking a huge risk (would you really want to go up against Hulu, the MSOs and a whole host of other large corporations?), but the potential upside is significant. I think true differentiation in the video space is extremely difficult right now and this could be the key for Boxee.
2. The UI gap between television and the internet has become, well, HUGE
People who spend the majority of their time on the internet get this look of disgust on their faces when talking about the state of television. It’s not that the next best UI for TV isn’t out there – from what I can tell, TV Guide did such a great job locking in the cable providers and patenting everything related to guide technology (including a “claim for generating a simple EPG grid with channels on one axis and times on the other”) that the pace of innovation has slowed significantly.
This has created, in a way, a perfect storm for a product like Boxee: alienated users, a battle between giants that doesn’t really seem to be going anywhere, and an enormous market ripening itself for widespread change.
3. Nothing says “Recession: Game Over” like a holiday rush on Best Buy for the hottest new electronic toy
What’s the competition this year? Windows 7? Please. The economy is starting to bounce, and what better symbolizes a return to consumption than the long line outside electronics stores on Black Friday? (Circuit City R.I.P.).
4. MSOs need a wake-up call
Henry Blodget’s article “Sorry, There’s No Way to Save the TV Business” in SAI last week summed up the situation quite well (so no need for me to say more here).
5. The future of television is not in widgets
I am pretty anti-widget when it comes to the future of television. I have no interest in seeing a sun in the corner of my screen when I’m watching Law and Order: SVU. I like Boxee’s app-driven model much better.
I know a lot of people are really into the Yahoo! widgets and there has been a lot of praise for the new Samsung TVs, but I’m not a huge fan.
The recent Boxee app development challenge is a great example of what can be done with the Boxee platform – photos, education, and news are just the beginning.
6. Boxee in its current state is too difficult to use with your TV and only sometimes compelling to use with your computer
Do I really use Boxee that much now? Nope. I love it, but for videos I find myself most often at Hulu, YouTube and Vimeo. The “pain point” is much sharper for television; online video is too slick and user-friendly, competition is vast and the video space in general is really crowded.
7. I am sick of paying for cable
Comcast, are you reading this? We’re breaking up. It pains me to pay $60/month so that I can scroll through those silly ads between every four listings in the guide software. I can’t stand staring at my remote and wondering what to do with all those buttons that I never seem to use. Anecdotally, it seems like the early adopter crowd is fed up and starting to unplug en masse. Here’s my guess on how the rest of the demo groups will shake out:
NOW – Early Adopters – Currently hacking together solutions that for the most part involve Mac Minis
1-3 Years – College Students – What do all dorm rooms have? Internet Access. Probably wireless. Cable TV is a pain in dorms, and colleges would love an IP solution that could just use the existing wireless
1-3 Years – Yuppies – The ones who always have to have the “latest and greatest”
4-6 Years – Moms – Once word gets out that you can look at baby photos through Flickr on your TV? Forget it.
5-7 Years – Everyone Else – Yeah, five years is a long time, but the MSOs are huge and the TV world moves slower than the internet.
Anyway, here’s hoping the Boxee set-top rumors will pan out this holiday season.