I have been to so many trade shows where the marketing for a product was so hyped only to find out that it is just vaporware that either never ships or ships years later losing its edge. So may be the case Sling Media. Sling could learn a thing or two, or should I say "one more thing" from Apple and Steve Jobs who rarely announces any product that is not ready to ship.
SlingCatcher is a set-top box I have written about before, which brings video content from a Slingbox to another TV. SlingCatcher also lets users project Web content to a TV screen, either wired or wirelessly, through a software application called SlingProjector. So where is it?
Sling Media, now owned by EchoStar Communications, hyped the SlingCatcher at CES 2007 announcing a release date which came and went, and yet again at CES 2008 with a floating Q2 time frame. Don't hold your breath. Seems that SlingCatcher will not appear in Q2 and may be lucky to show up in 2008.
Gregg Wilkes, vice president of sales for Sling Media recently answered a frustrated customer's e-mail that the goal to release the device during the second quarter of this year will not be met.
"Will the catcher ship in Q2? No. We are upgrading the user experience and making enhancements to the feature set. These may or may not all ship at the same time. Will the Catcher ship in '08? All indications point to this happening in 2008."
I sure have to wonder if we will see SlingPlayer 2.0 anytime this year or an iPhone version?
Customers that are frustrated from waiting what may end up being two years, may now be looking closer at competitor products like HAVA.
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