Boxee shows off beta version with improved interface
At an event in Brooklyn on Monday, Boxee showed off the upcoming beta version of its media center application for OS X, Windows, Linux, and Apple TV. The Boxee software, based on the open-source XBMC, lets you watch and listen …
Context & Ripple Effects
Boxee had already expanded from its XBMC roots and early Apple TV work into public alpha releases for Mac, Linux, and Windows, while opening an API and offering incentives for third-party apps. The beta’s interface work is therefore a product-polish step in a cross-platform software strategy rather than an isolated redesign.
It also arrives weeks after Boxee announced the Boxee Box and its first consumer-electronics partnership. A more coherent software experience matters because Boxee is preparing to carry its media interface from computers onto dedicated living-room hardware.
First-order effects
- Boxee users on OS X, Windows, Linux, and Apple TV receive a more consistent interface target as the company moves its media-center software beyond public alpha releases.
- Boxee can demonstrate a more finished software layer alongside the planned Boxee Box, giving its consumer-electronics partner a clearer product experience to package in hardware.
Second-order effects
- Third-party developers building through Boxee’s API must fit their apps into the revised interface, making the quality and discoverability of Boxee’s app catalog more consequential to the platform.
- D-Link’s $200 Boxee Box enters a market where Boxee’s software experience, rather than the underlying XBMC code alone, becomes the principal point of differentiation for a dedicated device.
Third-order effects
- If Boxee can keep one interface coherent across PCs, Apple TV, and partner hardware, media-center software becomes a distribution layer that device makers can adopt rather than develop themselves.
- The move points toward a living-room market organized around app-capable software platforms and hardware partnerships, with interface consistency determining whether an open-source-derived product can reach mainstream buyers.
The trend: Internet media software is shifting from enthusiast PC applications toward cross-device platforms paired with dedicated consumer hardware.