ViewSonic gives up on Boxee smart TV, for now

ViewSonic will no longer bring its planned smart TV running on Boxee's media center software, at least in the near term, the company told GigaOM. High costs and a lack of interest in the market were cited as the key factors. ViewSonic elaborated, stating consumers spent less on Smart TVs along with the slow-down in the economy.

Its strategy is to stay involved with "various technology developments" and consider them in the future. It's largely waiting for the hardware needed to get more affordable and thus appealing to customers.

After showing a prototype set at CES, ViewSonic promised it would bring the set to market in the spring of this year.

In the meantime, Boxee would simply say that the Viewsonic opportunity was put off "for the moment" to focus on others. The Iomega partnership is still progressing, with the first products due out in October. Boxee started by offering the D-Link-built Boxee Box add-on and wanted to work with partners like ViewSonic and Iomega to integrate it into other hardware. The new software would let users access the web and online services by connecting their TVs to the web and home networks.

By Electronista Staff