The Boxee Box is finally available to pre-order, with the actual product shipping in November. But does this streaming set-top box have any hopes of competing with Apple TV, Google TV, and the other connected platforms all vying for this crowded space?

Boxee

Boxee is a company best-known for its cross-platform, open-source media center for all. Available on PC, Mac, and Linux, this is a media center designed to fill the gap between your TV and your computer, and many people use and love it.

However, in December 2009 Boxee announced it was entering the set-top box arena with an offering developed by D-Link. The Boxee Box (pictured above) is the result, and although it’s been delayed it’s now finally available to pre-order.

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We knew it was coming, and we knew most of the details. But it’s still intriguing to see what Steve Jobs and co. have come up with for the newly-redesigned Apple TV. It’s small, cheap, and built purely for streaming from the cloud.

Apple TV

It’s fair to say the Apple TV didn’t exactly fly off the shelves when it was first launched. After some good early buzz, as there is with any new Apple product, the Apple TV was designated nothing more than a hobby. Which implied Jobs had accepted defeat.

It’s hard to put a finger on why the original Apple TV failed. It was definitely too expensive, and maybe the mainstream market just wasn’t ready for a set-top box able to stream and download video content.

Apple is hoping things have changed now, however, and that the new Apple TV will take off in a big way.

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The good news is that Apple is pushing to secure a 99-cent price for individual episodes of shows for its customers. The bad news is that to do so it’s had to abandon plans for a monthly eat-all-you-can subscription offering. Shame.

iTV, iPad, iPhone

Apple is one of the companies best positioned to take advantage of the move to online and streaming video. Not only does it lead the way with its iTunes service, it also has a range of products on the market, or about to hit the market, able to deliver video.

Apple’s three mobile devices, the iPad, the iPhone, and the iPod Touch are all capable of streaming high quality video. The iPad in particular is a device designed with the delivery of content in mind.

Meanwhile, the Apple TV is all but dead, with the iTV set to replace it. This will be cheap, cheerful, and designed for the mainstream. Giving it a good chance of succeeding.

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These are exciting times for online video, with the combined targets of the living room and mobile devices signaling the start of something huge. Viva la revolution, as someone may have once said.

The Revolution Begins

In terms of the Web being accessed by computers, online video has made its mark. The likes of YouTube, Hulu, Netflix, and the iPlayer have all been massive hits and proved beyond any doubt that the consumption of digital media is the future.

So it’s now time to ramp the effort up, with the living room the next big target. The ultimate goal must surely be to disable the big TV and movie studios’ abilities to control the marketplace.

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The past week has seen intense speculation as to whether a leak regarding Apple’s plans for the underwhelming and under-performing Apple TV is real or not. Could it really be renamed iTV and priced at just $99?

Apple TV

Apple is unused to having failures on its hands these days, but that is, sadly, what the Apple TV has turned out to be. After the initial buzz in 2006/2007, the Apple TV never quite managed to take off, meaning Apple’s mission to control the living room has so far failed.

Apple has since started referring to the Apple TV as nothing more than “a hobby,” which is just a way of writing off its failure. But Apple doesn’t give up easily, and is highly likely to be about to reboot the product in order to try and find its place in the market.

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PlayOn has managed to bypass the Apple App Store completely using an HTML5-powered Web app. Which gives access to Hulu, Netflix, and other online video services through the iPhone, iPod Touch, and (with a workaround) the iPad.

Mobile Video Streaming

The world is going mobile, with smartphones, laptops, and tablets providing people with more methods of venturing online while out of the house than ever before. And the consumption of media, including video, is a big part of this trend.

Many streaming video companies are riding with this shift, offering viewers apps for their device of choice. But some, such as Hulu, are trying to profit from the move, by charging for the privilege.

However, there is now a way of bypassing this.

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Apple has been treating Apple TV as a hobby since it failed to take off after launch. But that could all be about the change, with rumors that Apple is about to reboot the product in a big way.

If true, this is setting up an almighty battle with Google TV. Which should be fun to watch.

Apple TV

Steve Jobs first announced Apple TV back in September 2006, and at that point in time the company supposed it was going to have another huge hit on its hands. But it hasn’t turned out that way, with Apple’s success in computing and mobile devices not seeping through to the living room.

By 2008 Apple was publicly referring to Apple TV as nothing more than a hobby, and the device has remained that way ever since.

However, the last month or so has seen new rumors surfacing that Apple is about the reboot the project, and with so much speculation, and from so many sources, floating around, this would seem to have some weight.

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