After years of speculation, it looks like Amazon might finally enter the TV business. The Amazon TV box will reportedly launch in March and be optimized for streaming all of your Amazon purchases, including movies, TV shows and even video games straight to your TV.
Much like Apple TV and Roku, Amazon TV will be a small box that you can connect to your TV whenever you want to stream the movies, TV shows and other digital content you bought on Amazon. The box will supposedly run Amazon's version of Android, called Fire OS and arrive in March. With the TV box, Amazon Prime subscribers will be able to use all their special TV and movie streaming privileges on the big screen.
Amazon has a giant collection of movies, TV shows and games available on its website, so it makes perfect sense for the company to sell its own TV-streaming box. Now that Amazon is working to produce its own TV shows, it needs a platform on which to promote them. Amazon is reportedly putting together its own online TV service, targeting younger users who are consistently turning to mobile apps and websites to watch their TV shows. Given the rapidly falling ratings of big TV networks and the growing presence of viewers online, Amazon stands a very good chance of taking over for Time Warner Cable and other TV providers.
If Amazon had its own TV box on which users could watch TV shows and movies whenever they wanted, it would surely be a hit. Amazon's knowledge of what products its users like, search for and buy could also help the company better target specific customers with appealing advertisements - something no other TV provider can do. Amazon, like Google, knows a lot about us and all the company has to do is figure out how to use that information to its advantage.
Reports also hint that Amazon's TV box might be capable of streaming video games. Amazon recently bought Double Helix Games, so it's a reasonable supposition. All Amazon would need to really push its gaming prowess over the top would be a partnership (or ownership, for that matter) of a piece of gaming hardware, like Ouya or Xbox. Or, it could simply make its own gaming console, as some rumors suggest.
We've all heard rumors of an imminent launch for Amazon TV before, so naturally, there are a lot of skeptics out there. However, if Amazon wants to stage a takeover of the established TV market, it needs its own media-streaming device. Still, this time around, the reports have more validity and the sources sound more certain that an Amazon TV launch is imminent and perhaps this time it really is.
