The not so boxy Boxee box
Just read that D-Link will be the manufacturing partner for Boxee in their first foray into hardware. If you haven't seen yesterday's announcement on Boxee's completely redone beta, read this.
The potential impact Boxee has on media consumption has always been huge - the on demand model is simply better. Gary Vaynerchuck hates paying for Lifetime with his cable TV subscription, and chances are you don't watch every single channel you have access to, either. Which brings us to the Boxee Box - not having to hack an Apple TV or rig a computer setup in your living room for the Boxee experience is a beautiful thing and will undoubtedly help adoption. The $200 price tag also seems quite reasonable, though my one problem is...
...its godawful shape.
Sure, there are some good reasons for a nonstandard shape. It's definitely a conversation starter, for one. It also makes it impossible for you to stack anything else on top of it, making sure that it'll always be prominently displayed. Video game console manufacturers are devotees to this "I stand alone" design philosophy...think Wii/PS3/Xbox 360. The many models of Slingboxes are also guilty, but the box you see above looks like it's been sawed off haphazardly and thrown in some kind of warped dimension. I'm pretty sure this is my OCD talking, but it just doesn't feel right.
It remains to be seen if the shape is a dealbreaker, though I'm wondering if I'll be able to find the device in any retail stores. Apple probably won't touch this considering their iTunes Store, and other big box chains like Best Buy/Target/Walmart all have their disc sales to consider. If the product launch stays on schedule, we'll find out in Q2 of 2010.
