Deathwatch: Boxee Box

Last week, the folks at Boxee announced that their Boxee Box — which was shown at this year's CES and set to debut this month — is being delayed till November. While it wasn't one of my favorite CES streaming devices, I did have my eye on it because I liked the updates Boxee had been making to its software and of course, the more options people have, the easier it will be for them to cut cable.

But now with this delay and the Google TV announcement, I fear Boxee will be DOA. Making matters worst is the fact that the Boxee app itself has taken a turn for the worst this past month. (At least it has in my opinion.) It still runs smooth and it's still nice to look at, but I'd say more than 75% of the app/channels available are channels I don't care about. Onion Network, Justin TV, College Humor, LoL Cats, these are channels I never want to see on my living room TV. And you're going to charge me around $200 (that's the price point Boxee is giving) for this? No thanks! I'll stick with Roku.

As horrible as this may sound, I feel that Boxee is going the way of Joost, and we all know how that turned out. Furthermore, if Boxee does indeed ship its Boxee Box in November, it will go head-to-head with Sony, Logitech, and Google as they roll out Google TV. Boxee vs Google & Co. — that match won't last a day. Not to mention Microsoft and its Xbox 360 is getting a nice overhaul and some new content (ESPN3) around that timeframe too.

Unless Boxee can get their stuff in order, get some good solid content, and ship their device before fall, I'm giving up on them. Google, Hulu, and Roku are just a few of the companies you're competing with, and so far, Boxee hasn't given me any reason to wait it out for them.