Boxee was scheduled to release its set-top box, the Boxee Box, in June, but the company pushed back the release until the fourth quarter as it and partner D-Link continued to polish the product. Several news reports this week said the release date had been moved up from the November date announced by Boxee CEO Avner Ronen last month.
Andrew Kippen, Boxee's VP for marketing, told FierceIPTV the reports are the result of the off-the-cuff video that showed the latest STB shell and was intended to be shared among Boxee "friends and family."
"Truth is that there has been no change in release date (still November)," said Kippen. "And people are chomping at the bit for this little box and jumping on every word. We've taken that into account for the next time we make a home movie."
If the amount of play the Boxee rumor got is any indication of potential demand, it's no surprise, as Boxee CEO Avner Ronen said in June, that Boxee and D-Link would like "to start selling the boxes yesterday."
Boxee has to be working to get its STB to market before Google TV--and now possibly Apple TV--grab the spotlight. Google has plans for a fourth quarter roll out and just about everyone is waiting for Apple to drop the other shoe as well; there's been a number of rumors and reports that Apple is getting ready to turn its hobby into a business.
Boxee says it wants to bring to market a box that is as good or better than it's PC client, one that plays HD videos from the web or a local network in 1080p and use hardware acceleration whenever possible.
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