Not content with being the king of online retail sales and the e-book market, Amazon Inc. now wants to control our living room entertainment as well - by launching a set-top box that will give the likes of Apple TV or Roku jitters.
Wall Street Journal reported that the device, codenamed 'Cinnamon', would be similar in look and functionality to a Roku box and, besides being able to access Amazon's huge collection of movies, music and television shows and stream them, it will also be able to run a large number of third-party content apps.
Per reports, Cinnamon (CNet predicts it will be called Firetube) was in developments since at least April and the company is in negotiation with several cable companies and content providers for developing apps for the set-top box.
The price of the device is not known but Amazon is expected to launch it around mid-October or just in time for the holiday shopping season.
However, Amazon won't have it easy. Cinnamon will have Google's Chromecast device (a $35 HDMI dongle that allows one to stream Google Play Music, YouTube videos and Netflix from iOS as well as Android devices) to contend with. And, rumors are also abuzz that a hardware refresh of Apple TV is in the works.
It's too early to say whether the Amazon set-top box will be a dazzle or a dud, but one thing's for sure - it will be cheap. Very cheap.
