SlingPlayer for Android sneaks into private Beta

If you’re the proud owner of both an Android handset and a Slingbox, you might be a bit bummed out right now — and rightly so. While almost every single other smartphone platform around has been slingboxin’ video content freshly piped from a remote TV for years now, Android has, thus far, been left out in the cold. Sure, sure — Slingbox for Android is coming. We just have no idea when, outside of “summer”.

While we still don’t have any solid dates on a launch, the whole thing just took one big ol’ step forward.

This morning, a handful of lucky Slingboxers got a very special e-mail. They were explicitly told not to make a peep about this e-mail — but you know how that goes.

Hi ,

The wait is finally over! A new private beta is available for the SlingPlayer Mobile for Android. Since your beta profile is a good match for testing, you have the opportunity to join the new beta program.

Please note this is a special invitation so do not share this email or the below URL with anyone else. Also, do not mention you received an invitation, that the beta is starting, or anything that’s related. Due to the overwhelming demand for this program, we’d like to keep things as quiet as possible. Just think of it as a secret club! ;)

Just think of it as a secret club that the whole Android/Slingbox-toting Internet will find out about instantly and be jealous of! You can’t really mass e-mail dozens of people and expect them to keep a secret — in fact, asking them to keep it a secret probably just hastened the leaking process. Seems like it’s as much of a marketing move as it is a “secret” private Beta, intended to get people excited. For us, at least, it’s working.

[Via Phandroid]