Why Boxee loves Apple
Here's an interesting statistic about Boxee, the freeware media browser that makes it easy to find and watch Web video and streaming TV shows on a computer screen.
Of the 370,000 people who have downloaded the free Boxee client since it became available last June,
- 67% are running it on Macs
- 25% are running it on Apple TVs
- 4% are running it on Linux boxes
- 4% are running it on Windows PCs
This is not the way the world usually works. Developers as a rule will walk through the desert in their socks to get to an installed base, which generally means the 8 or 9 out of 10 computers in the world that run Microsoft (MSFT) Windows.
So we asked Avner Ronen, the Israeli-trained software engineer who founded Boxee, how it came to be that 92% of his users are running Apple (AAPL) products?
The reason stems from a decision he made two years ago, when his team first started developing Boxee.
"We were all switching to Macs as our personal computers," he says. "And we felt many of the early adopters were going there as well."
It helped that Apple's hardware was standardized across the product line, which made it a more attractive multimedia development platform than PCs running different versions of Windows and manufactured by a host of different companies. And there was one more little thing:
"The Mac Mini and laptops were coming with remotes at the time, which made them great media center platforms. We just thought it made sense to start with Mac and then move to the PC."
Although the Mac version is in its second alpha and headed for beta, Boxee still hasn't been officially released on the PC. A Windows alpha came out earlier this year, but only by private invitation. A public release isn't expected for another six or seven weeks.
Even so, Boxee has been getting a lot of attention lately, especially after it won a Best of the Best Award at the Consumer Electronics Show in January. It now offers content both from Web sources like Blip.TV, Joost, TED and Revision3 as well as TV shows from mainstream outlets like PBS, CBS, HBO, CNN, Comedy Central, WB, NBC and Fox.
Over the past six weeks Boxee has been engaged in a game of cat and mouse with Hulu, the joint venture of NBC (GE) and Fox (NWSA) that streams TV content from nearly 450 shows, including such hits as 30 Rock, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. Hulu has twice tried to pull its content off Boxee — most recently this week — but Ronen's programmers keep finding clever ways to get it back on. See here and here.
In March, Ronan drew more attention to Boxee by engaging in a fierce and widely read debate with HDNet's Mark Cuban over the future of video entertainment. It was set off by a Cuban editorial entitled "Why Do Internet People Think That Content People Are Stupid?"
Last week, a Boxee press conference/meet-up in New York City drew a standing-room-only crowd of more than 700 people. Most of them were Mac users.
Boxee's love for Apple, by the way, isn't exactly reciprocated. Boxee came to the Apple TV as a hack that gives owners a way to get around the set-top box's restrictions and watch content that isn't available on the iTunes Store.
Windows Media Center has SecondRun.tv in beta that does the same thing. Simple interface, gathers videos from most online program viewing sources (Hulu, CNN, etc)
The same Windows Media Center that can use a $40 TV Tuner card and also watch broadcast/satellite/cable TV and DVR it.
Ah another Windows/Apple debate. Eh what ever. Same old same old debate of which is better. Either way it doesn't matter. Although I work on both PC's and own a Mac, I prefer my Mac for usability and the non-hassle of constantly having to worry about updating my anti-virus. Either way, what ever you use it for, just as long as the thing works and does what you need to do.
Boxee is part of a (slowly) growing trend to program applications for both platforms, but to start on Apple. There are reasons for this. Demographically, Apple is 25% of home owned computers, which is not the niche market that most say it is (remember, many PCs are business machines, not used at home, and subject to different uses, for example business computers get few games). Second, and this one need only grab a handy Simmons, Apple users are qualitatively better customers because they spend more money on secondary purchases (except for virus protections and repair programs, an area that Apple users do not buy). Third, from a programming point of view, cross platform application development is easier to start on Apple and move to PC, because of Windows reliance on closed or proprietary techniques and application tools with significant downsides in porting.
We saw some companies (ie Battlefront) make a mint on Mac programming, then porting to the PC even in the days when Mac user base was much smaller. With market research showing Mac users being very comfortable with making their PC the center of their entertainment systems, much more comfortable that Windows PC users, it means that Macs are a great place to get early adopters with working, easy to use technology, before trying to tackle the more complex and difficult PC world.
zinc zeevee for you window users. I like it better than boxee. You have your local content, hulu, cbs, espn etc, right in a mmodified user friendly firefox browser.
to ex-ped
I can do this and hulu and netflix. heck if i wanted to i can go to eztv.com joost surfthechannel or a thousand other sites that stream video or allow to download it. i can even put them on my zune and watch them on the go because it plays something other than mp4s.
To ex-ped,
Can you not read? It says that in the article so the stats are not meaningful. It says, 'Although the Mac version is in its second alpha and headed for beta, Boxee still hasn’t been officially released on the PC. A Windows alpha came out earlier this year, but only by private invitation. A public release isn’t expected for another six or seven weeks.'
Oh yeah, I know … you only use a PC. I guess you have an impediment. From someone who has labored to code on both, I always liked coding for the PC better. Regardless of who write the applications, I love my Mac!
ex ped: Sigh.
This is very poor reporting. Anyone following Boxee knows that it is not publicly availible for Windows. I use it on Linux, but just to test it out. Please next time you want to write a report about Apple do a tiny bit of actual research first. I mean you talked to the developers and didn't happen to find out that most Windows users cannot even use Boxee yet? Great job there!
ex ped: Did you even read the piece? I thought I made that pretty clear.
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!
This just in, 100% of WinOwn users jailbreak their iphones and ipod touches using windows PCs!
I really dont see how this is newsworthy. So this company decided to first create their product for the smaller userbase. Im wondering if they are not skilled enough or just too lazy to create software for a range of hardware configurations.
There is a reason itunes is capable of running on windows.
eric and macdisser…don't you get it yet…money.CNN.com is the unofficial apple propaganda website…all things apple are GOOD and news worthy
I saw a demo of this software months ago, and it was impressive. Glad to see the MacHeads appreciate it.
I don't get it! Given that the mac version is available to the public and the windows version is not, what is so surprising about the statistic?
Very slow news day. We are discussing Boxee on Cnnfn.com? Not a very widely used product and big deal its mostly on Apple. Lets throw a kegger and celebrate! I will stick with my slingbox where I can watch my cable tv from anywhere including my Omnia phone and change the channels like I was sitting on my couch. Take that Boxee.
nothing special here. mac users can now do something pc users have been doing for years.
ex ped: Interesting. Which program are you using that does what Boxee does?
I've tried Boxee for Windows and don't see what all the fuss is about. ZeeVee just release their free Zinc "Internet Video Browser" and I'm think its actually better: http://www.zeevee.com/zinc/download-zinc. Either way, it's easy and affordable to stream the content to your PC: http://pctvcables.com
loving it on my macbook air. btw, the mac version is superior to the win version at the moment since win version does not have netflix (which imo is the best part of boxee).
screw hulu and its commercials! i just wanted this monday's heroes episode on boxee via netflix w/NO COMMMERCIALS! 
"Boxee came to the Apple TV as a hack that gives owners a way to get around the set-top box’s restrictions and watch content that isn’t available on the iTunes Store"
Apple still considers Apple TV, and at the same time Boxee is showing them how serious this could be.
This time, consumers are teaching them what to do with this product. It's obvious. Would Apple listen?
Apple has when it offered movie rental. That was good, but people need more. And people worldwide!!!
Apple should adjust its strategy. Here are the only 4 options:
1) Buy Boxee or any of this type of software + make negociation with studios/tv channel easier.
2) Make a deal with Boxee and/or Hulu the same way they did it with YouTube.
3) Add features to iTunes/Apple TV that would make them Boxee like.
4) Kill Apple TV. Clear and simple. Do you remember the Newton? Ring a bell?
The only reason for this numbers is that the Windows version is always left behind by the boxee team, with less features and more bugs than the Apple one, that is constantly upgraded.
Please ask XBMC about their numbers, Boxee is based on the XBMC project.
I just went to download Boxee for Windows and guess what… its not available yet.
How 4% of users are using it on Windows, therefore, is a mystery.
ex ped: Private invitation.
"A Windows alpha came out earlier this year, but only by private invitation." Maybe this is why the Windows install basse is so small????????
ex ped: Exactly.
Here is another cool way to watch TV on a mac:
download the viewmy.tv widget and stream live streaming tv directly to the desktop. The widget was recently listed as the 25th most downloaded widget on the apple site.
Be aware that you do need to have flip4mac installed in order to watch wmv streams.
Try it out!