Amazon's Set-Top Box Competitor to Apple TV and Roku Launching Before Holidays

NewImageAmazon is developing a set-top box to compete with the Apple TV and Roku boxes, reports The Wall Street Journal. The box would be aimed primarily at users of its Amazon Prime Video streaming video service and could launch in time for the holiday season.

It was reported back in April that Amazon was developing a set-top box to stream video via its Amazon Prime and Instant Video services.

Plans for a device that would stream video were reported in April by The Wall Street Journal and other media outlets. Such a set-top box would broaden Amazon's reach into the living room, where today it is dependent on other hardware makers to reach consumers watching video on TV sets. Providing a device of its own is a potentially crucial component to Amazon's ambition of expanding beyond its core online marketplace business.

Amazon has stepped up its streaming content offerings recently, producing 14 original television pilots and using customer feedback to decide which get made into full shows, as well as spending significant amounts of money to secure exclusive rights to shows like Downton Abbey and The West Wing. The tactic takes on both Netflix's subscription streaming service and Apple's iTunes content store.

Currently Amazon's Instant Video service is available on iPads and iPhones, the Xbox 360, the Nintendo Wii, the Sony Playstation 3, smart televisions from LG, Panasonic, Samsung, Sony, and Vizio, TiVo, the Roku box, as well as a number of Blu-ray players.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
Apple MacBook Air 2 up hero 240304 feature

New MacBook Air Announcement Reportedly 'Imminent' — Here's When

Sunday March 2, 2025 5:40 am PST by
With the iPhone 16e now in the hands of customers, Apple reportedly plans to move on to its next product announcement in the coming days. Apple plans to announce new MacBook Air models with the M4 chip "as early as this week," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. "I expect the M4 MacBook Air to be introduced as early as this week," said Gurman, in a post shared on X today. "Inventory has ...
Apple AirPort Routers

Apple's Discontinued Line of AirPort Wi-Fi Routers Could Return in an Unexpected Way

Saturday March 1, 2025 10:00 am PST by
Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Apple offered a line of Wi-Fi routers that it referred to as AirPort base stations. There was a standard AirPort Express, a higher-end AirPort Extreme with more advanced networking features, and an AirPort Time Capsule that doubled as an external storage drive for backing up a Mac with Time Machine. Apple discontinued the AirPort line in 2018, but the company...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...

Top Rated Comments

musicianm Avatar
149 months ago
Amazon should be more concerned with making a deal with Apple to have PRIME on AppleTV.

Not making something that only so many people will buy.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
giantfan1224 Avatar
149 months ago
I guess I don't understand the need for Amazon to have their own hardware when their video player is available on pretty much any platform. They're not a hardware manufacturer (at least they're not profitable in that arena). They'll probably sell it at cost or for a loss which baffles me why they wouldn't just focus more on making their content the best possible. I understand they want to lock people into the ecosystem but in the end, if their video service and content is the best (cheapest, variety), that will be what ultimately makes them money.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Rogifan Avatar
149 months ago
I guess I don't understand the need for Amazon to have their own hardware when their video player is available on pretty much any platform. They're not a hardware manufacturer (at least they're not profitable in that arena). They'll probably sell it at cost or for a loss which baffles me why they wouldn't just focus more on making their content the best possible. I understand they want to lock people into the ecosystem but in the end, if their video service and content is the best (cheapest, variety), that will be what ultimately makes them money.

You forget that Wall Street doesn't give a toss if Amazon makes money or not. As long as Amazon's top line keeps going up and up and up the market doesn't seem to care what happens to the bottom line.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ViperDesign Avatar
149 months ago
You forget that Wall Street doesn't give a toss if Amazon makes money or not. As long as Amazon's top line keeps going up and up and up the market doesn't seem to care what happens to the bottom line.

I swear you have that same comment just ready to go whenever there is an amazon post. You literally say the same thing over and over about amazon.

http://theweek.com/article/index/235488/how-long-can-amazon-go-without-making-money
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
samcraig Avatar
149 months ago
Correction: Amazon Instant Streaming is not available on TiVo. Only (purchased) downloads. No streaming. And yes that includes the latest Roamio boxes.

It's good to see you here Anthony - I feel like I haven't come across your name in a long time.

This will be an interesting product. How many other services will Amazon link up to stream. Will it be bundled with 3/6/12 months of free Prime as a selling point?

Roku has a pretty mature "channel" selection. And there's no doubt that AppleTV despite having it's limitations is favored by many simple for airplay.

And then there's Google Chromecast which is doing pretty well and has a scary price point.

So again - it will be interesting to see how they differentiate theirs...
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bawbac Avatar
149 months ago
It doesn't sound like they'll have enough content. Amazon Prime and Instant have a few decent selections, but they are not even close to what Apple TV offers.

Amazon needs to up their content but they've got a good start/foundation.

When did Apple offer free movies or a subscription for $79 or less a year to view a catalog of content?


Over 150,000 top movies and TV shows to rent or buy, including thousands you can watch now at no additional cost as an Amazon Prime member.

http://www.amazon.com/Instant-Video/b/ref=topnav_storetab_mov_aiv?ie=UTF8&node=2858778011
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)