Viewsonic Cancels Plans For Boxee TV Integration

Viewsonic has abandoned plans to integrate Boxee's media software with its HDTVs. The company first announced the partnership back at CES where it showed off a prototype of the Boxee-powered TV. However, something seemed amiss when the company failed to deliver on their promised early Q2 launch date and now it's confirmed that the project has been axed.

During CES, Viewsonic showed off a 46-inch TV running Boxee's media center software powered by an Intel Atom processor. The collaboration would have been a great move for Boxee, which was hoping to move beyond set-top boxes. But it looks like those dreams will be dashed for now as Viewsonic explains that the decision is based on the current market conditions.

'Smart TV' has not achieved the consumer acceptance or market expectation... that was forecasted over the last couple years. In addition, consumer spending for Smart TV's in general has experienced a significant slow down as the economy has slowed. Our current strategy is to stay involved with the various technology developments and consider them in the future as they become available.

Boxee responded saying that "the Viewsonic opportunity has been pushed to the side for the moment to concentrate on other opportunities." So it's not clear if the project is off the table entirely, but Viewsonic sure seems to be focused on other opportunities at the moment. The company just launched three new tablets at IFA 2011, including two budget-friendly Android tablets, the ViewPad 7e and ViewPad 7x.

[via GigaOm]