Boxee was acquired by the South Koreans from Samsung for $ 30 million (around 23 million euros) and it is probably to expect that some software from Samsung will work better, is better designed and will have more features, although there are hardly any details on the deal by Samsung to finally acquire the small Israeli and New York-based streaming media and entertainment company Boxee.
The only thing that has been confirmed so far is that Samsung acquired the Tel Aviv-based startup Boxee, because it was confirmed by the South Koreans themselves in a statement to the New York Times.
Of course, Samsung did not confirm the sum of the alleged $ 30 million (23 million euros) to the New York Times and made no comment about this huge sum for the startup. In addition, Samsung did not make any statements about its plans after it has acquired Boxee.
Samsung probably wants to use the know-how of Boxee to improve the Smart TV series and software in order to make the platform of their televisions and other devices more interesting and attractive for the customers.
In addition, there is some software for the desktop and media streaming by Samsung that could not only need some redesign or bug fixes, but also the know-how of the team behind Boxee.
It is said that Samsung will take over all employees of Boxee and, thus, it is at least no real bad news for the employees of Boxee in Tel Aviv and New York, although it is not yet known what Samsung really plans with the employees and know-how of Boxee.
The media streaming software by Boxee was a fork of the well-known free and open source media center software XBMC, while the version by the team behind Boxee has changed since the first release some time ago.
Boxee is currently still in a cooperation with D-Link for the production of hardware and devices, but it is likely that Samsung will replace D-Link as hardware producer very soon. Everything else would be really strange.
Samsung will probably take care about the production of upcoming hardware, the development as well as the marketing of new products under the label of Boxee – although it could also happen that Boxee might disappear and that new developments, updates and products are sold under the famous label of Samsung.
