As competition to be the connected hub of the living room hots up, Samsung has acquired streaming TV set-top box Boxee for a rumoured $30m. Or, as a spokesperson put it, acquired “some employees and assets” of Boxee. The deal has the whiff of a fire-sale about it, given that Boxee had raised $26.5m of funding in its short history. “We started on this journey six years ago, and have been at the forefront of the changing TV and video landscape. We believe that over the next few years the video market will change even more than it has in the past few decades,” explains Boxee. “Joining Samsung means we will be able to work on products that marry the best hardware and software in the TV space, products that will be used by tens of millions of people and will help to shape the future of TV.” The deal gives Samsung ammunition to compete against Apple TV, Google TV, Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and other devices to become people’s gateway to digital video, music and other content on their TVs.
Tools: platforms to help you reach new audiences
Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…