TiVo strongly denies rumours suggesting it's leaving the hardware business

 

 

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TiVo strongly denies rumours suggesting it's leaving the hardware business
1/23/2014 3:12:00 AM

TiVo, the maker of DVR boxes whose subscriber count has been dropping, recently laid off the majority of its hardware team to focus on cloud and software products, according to Wired.

The company is said to be keeping two engineers to focus on support for current set-top boxes, along with third-party hardware that will be running Tivo's software under its new restructuring. Wired reports that TiVo is getting out of the hardware business completely and will put its focus elsewhere.

However, Steve Wymer, VP of corporate communications at TiVo, strongly refutes Wired's claims in an interview with The Verge on Wednesday. He says TiVo won't be leaving the hardware business like suggested. Still, there seems to be a change-up going on internally at TiVo, surrounding cloud services.

"It's not right to say that TiVo's out of the hardware business," Wymer said. "We're just as fired up as consumers are about the Roamio and we expect to deliver on that for years to come. It's one of our core businesses and our shining jewel." The Roamio is the company's latest DVR box release, featuring the ability to record six shows at once.

Wymer did confirm layoffs, saying that staff at TiVo is being shifted around to build out its cloud products: "We have exploding potential in the cloud. We shift our resources and our personnel based on our priorities."

It's not clear if Wired sources missed the mark when it came to interpreting the layoffs, or if there are bigger moves within TiVo that Wymer isn't willing to discuss as of yet.

In an interview with Wired in May 2013, TiVo's executive vice president of products Jeff Klugman said "software is the future of TiVo" and that it will be at the centre of its comeback. TiVo currently licenses software to third-party manufacturers, including Virgin Media boxes in the UK.

Even if it doesn't shutter its hardware business completely, it seems TiVo is shifting focus from its hardware business to software altogether.

 

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