First, by all accounts their software is dead simple. And finally, they have to look like they are listening to the problems/complaints/concerns of their customers, who typically understand that startups often run under limited resources.Īs an XBMC guy, I’m loath to ever say anything nice about Roku, but you’ve got to give them credit for a few things. Of course, they have to provide software that’s MUCH more idiot-proof than the stuff that comes from the big guys. They have to provide a place that quickly and easily answers tons of frequently asked questions. This means they have to provide forums and other online hotspots where users can help each other. Since they simply cannot provide one-on-one support for all the problems that might exist out there, they have to operate more efficiently than their much larger competitors. The majority of their money comes from venture capital funding rounds. Startups, on the other hand, are often operating in the red. It can afford to hire great customer service techs all over the nation, staff a native English-speaking telephone hotline, and otherwise give customers a near infinite supply of options for tech support. Apple makes a few billion dollars a year. 2) Customer serviceĬustomer service is a very, very difficult thing for a startup company, and that’s doubly true for a startup that’s dealing with something as complex as hardware or a complete OS. By sacrificing the Boxee software, Boxee sacrificed all the goodwill that came with it.Īnd then, absurdly, they did it all again with the Boxee Box. It became the best selling smartphone ever because it was the COOLEST product on the block. The iPhone didn’t become the best selling smartphone ever because it was a great product. In the tech community, hardware and software sales absolutely depend on goodwill and word of mouth. But failing to incentivize users to see the value in gradually upgrading to the hardware versions was just as much a losing proposition.
#Boxee forums tv
The Boxee software would have had no TV tuner support at all.Īt the end of the day, Boxee’s job was to make money, so expecting endless support for something that didn’t generate value (the Boxee software) was a losing proposition. The previous Boxee Box could have the TV tuner, but only via USB. The next generation of the Boxee Box could have had a tv tuner built in. Instead, the Boxee Box should have had compelling features that simply could not have been available on the software platform.įor example, the software version might have been restricted to viewing Netflix in a browser, while the hardware version could have had an official, native Netflix app, which would have been totally possible, given the Intel chip being used. The step from the Boxee software to the Boxee hardware should not have been the only step. The iPhone 4 will still be supported by this most recent version, but so many new, amazing features will only be supported on the newer hardware iterations that most users will sadly accept that it’s time to upgrade.īoxee’s mistake was failing to follow through on basic product iteration. Then they release the next version, and still more components are missing.
#Boxee forums update
Then they release the next iteration, the iPhone 4S, with a software update that mostly applies to the 4, but is missing some critical components for the absolute best experience.
/i/1282127112.jpeg "boxee forums")
Fully stop supporting the product when it becomes clear that the majority of users have moved on.Īpple is another company that does an excellent job following and even helping along this basic process with its line of iOS products.įirst, they release a product with all the latest features, like the iPhone 4.But it wouldn’t have hurt to at least try to follow the basic tenants of support that Microsoft displayed. To be perfectly honest, a 13 year cycle of support would have been complete overkill for a service like Boxee, as that level of support is really more intended for the business segments of commerce. That’s a 13 year cycle of support for a product they only sold for roughly 6 years.That is the very definition of long term support. But support for XP continues to this day, with an anticipated ending date sometime in 2014.
#Boxee forums windows
It was succeeded by Windows Vista in 2007. Without a doubt, the biggest mistake Boxee ever made was failing to maintain support for old products.įor all that we may love to hate Microsoft, support for old products is one of the smartest, most important things they’ve ever done. For the sake of the future and XBMC, let’s look into a few of the mistakes of Boxee, so that we - and other XBMC businesses - can hopefully avoid them in the future. But as time went on, it started doing more and more things wrong. MetaBeat will bring together thought leaders to give guidance on how metaverse technology will transform the way all industries communicate and do business on October 4 in San Francisco, CA.īoxee did many things right.
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