Reports of TiVo's exit from the hardware market on Wednesday have been greatly exaggerated.
According to Steve Wymer, TiVo's head of corporate communications, the company is committed to hardware and supporting its Roamio line for years to come.
See also: TiVo Roamio Reinvents the Cable Box for the Digital Streaming Age
Reports that TiVo was preparing to ditch its hardware business first surfaced after Wired reported that the company had laid off most of its industrial design staff.
Although Wymer confirmed that layoffs took place, he wouldn't reveal how many people or which department they were in. Moreover, he was adamant that layoffs didn't mean the company was preparing to exit its box market. "It's just not right to say that TiVo is out of the hardware business," Wymer told Mashable.
He also continued to stress TiVo's continued commitment and investment in the Roamio, calling it "the best TiVo we've ever made" and the company's "crown jewel." He added: "Consumers love the Roamio and we're working hard to deliver updates that will make it even better over time."
Even though TiVo claims to remain committed to hardware, that doesn't mean it's the company's only — or even main — focus. Wymer acknowledges that the company is focusing more and more on bringing the TiVo experience to the cloud.
At CES 2014, the company showed off prototypes for its network DVR concept. That would give cable operators the ability to offer the full TiVo software experience, with subscriptions, suggestions and apps, but the recordings would be stored in the cloud. TiVo is positioning this product at operators looking at or planning transitions to IP content delivery systems.
A number of cable operators already use cloud-based DVR systems for some or all of their deployments and TiVo is interested in working with operators and partners to bring the experience to more homes. "The balance," Wymer says, "is making sure the core DVR experience that consumers rely upon is good and today, that often still means disk-based recordings."
There is certainly more movement and excitement in the realm of cloud-based services than traditional hardware DVRs, but for now, TiVo is happy to live in both spaces.
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