According to Businessweek, Amazon intends to take on the likes of Apple, Microsoft, and Roku with a streaming set-top box. Given Amazon’s failed bid for Roku, ever-expanding cloud offerings, and even their own Android marketplace, it’s not an inconceivable approach – yet we’ll classify this as a rumor until more concrete evidence presents itself. With the downward pricing pressure in this space, margins wouldn’t the greatest. But a streaming box could certainly help Amazon build out and reinforce their ecosystem… despite making similar apps available to other platforms. And Amazon has the luxury of bazillions of eyeballs without having to make room (or spend) on hotly contested retail shelving. As with their Kindle Fire initiative, we’d expect such a product to run a custom UI on top of Android (should this come to fruition, of course). Meaning, Amazon might become the first company to produce a “Google TV” with any sort of significant sales.
View Comments
In other Amazon news, I was just thinking this AM I need to unload my Kindle Fire HD tablet. It sits on my nightstand and never gets used.
Why? Amazon's streaming video runs everywhere. The netflix model works. This makes less sense than the heavily rumored yet when you think about it for a millisecond completely nonsensical amazon phone.
Dave writes:
"With the downward pricing pressure in this space, margins wouldn’t the greatest."
Rodalpho writes:
"Why? Amazon’s streaming video runs everywhere. The netflix model works."
Why the hell not?
This is Amazon we're dealing with. Remember the corporate DNA. They want to make money when you use the box, not when you buy it.
Ship a box with negative margins, just to have another option for consumers, since Cupertino doesn't want to play nice. And keep following the Netflix model on any agnostic boxes which will accommodate them. So, if you've got a Roku, you can get Amazon content. And if you've got an Amazon streamer on the cheap, you can get Amazon content. That way, they're on two of the three, rather than one of the two. (Plus, I'm sure they'll be on any 'smart TV's' that'll have them.)
Given that Bezos wants to own fulfilling the bits, it's smart to have a client of their own in every space, just to make sure folks always have another option to receive Amazon bits. (Same reason they brought out a Dropbox competitor, even though Dropbox runs on AWS. They don't want to defeat Dropbox, they just want a client of their own in every space.)
"In other Amazon news, I was just thinking this AM I need to unload my Kindle Fire HD tablet. It sits on my nightstand and never gets used."
Exactly. Their clients (outside books, a special core area for them), aren't meant to be best of breed. They just want a cheap client in every space so they can't be shut out. And just as Dave never should've bought a Fire, the folks who read this blog probably shouldn't buy the Amazon streamer...