![]() "We don't comment on discussions with our partners," a Roku spokeswoman said. So is that what Amazon has in mind? An Amazon spokeswoman said, "We don't comment on rumors and speculation."Īnd where does that leave Amazon's partners, such as Roku? "That means that Amazon can sell millions of boxes, make millions in profit, provide streaming to millions of additional customers, and have a chance to upsell them Prime," Pachter said. If each box generates $25 in gross profit, a number Pachter suggests is possible, while Amazon's streaming content costs remain largely the same, it's a huge opportunity. Amazon could then offer a second year of Amazon Prime for, say, $4 a month, a discount from the $79 a year it currently charges, in the hopes of retaining those customers. Pachter believes plenty of consumers would buy an Amazon streaming video box for $100, roughly what Apple charges for Apple TV, if it included unlimited streaming for a year. So if Amazon decides to give its set-top box customers Amazon Prime subscriptions for, say, one year, the company will be able to offer a better value than rivals even if they charge the same amount for the device. ![]() The advantage Amazon has, though, is that it already provides streaming content. Here's his logic: If Apple, Roku, and others can make money on streaming media devices, so too can Amazon. Webush Securities analyst Michael Pachter believes the same strategy could be at work with Amazon's set-top box play. What's more, Morningstar believes that number more than doubled in the previous 18 months, getting a huge boost after Amazon began giving away trials to the service with new Kindle Fire tablets. Amazon's pilots reign supreme on Instant Video.Amazon Prime membership reportedly soars past 10 million.Amazon to release set-top box for Internet video, report says.Seven questions about Amazon's mystery streaming box.While Amazon doesn't offer much detail about the business, last month Morningstar estimated that Amazon Prime, the service that offers rapid shipping as well as streaming movies, tops 10 million subscribers. The online retail giant has a huge business with its Amazon Instant Video, a Netflix competitor. And they can catch streaming video through Apple TV boxes as well as TV sets made by Samsung, among others. Consumers can stream video from gaming consoles such as the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3. Companies such as Roku and Boxee already make set-top boxes that can stream video content to televisions. And yes, it's reportedly considering offering a smartphone.īut a streaming video set-top box? Bloomberg reported Wednesday that Amazon plans to dive into that hardware business, citing "three people familiar with the project who aren't authorized to discuss it." What's Amazon thinking? It’s the quantity and variety of these apps that makes the Boxee a far more rounded entertainment device than the Apple TV.Yes, Amazon makes the successful Kindle Fire tablet computer. (One word of caution: if you choose to unlock the “adult” apps using the Boxee’s settings, you’ll find the likes of YouPorn sitting at the top of the app menu, which hardly makes it a family friendly, living room device). The web browser is only one of dozens of apps available for the Boxee, including content from providers such as Flickr, BBC iPlayer and YouTube, as well as RSS readers, podcast players and much more, with a heavy slant towards the more geeky type of content. Nevertheless, it’s fine for casual browsing, with a slow-moving cursor the only real irritation. The Boxee Box often struggled to display Flash-heavy websites smoothly. Yes, that’s a full web browser with (gasp it, Apple fans) support for Flash, although on this evidence we concede that Steve Jobs might have a point. The accompanying remote control has basic navigation buttons on one side and a full Qwerty keyboard on the other, which is great for tapping in the name of shows in the search box or URLs in the web browser. Both attractive and sensibly laid out, the interface has a set-top box style feel that’s ideal for someone perched on the sofa on the other side of the room. Like the Apple TV, the Boxee interface is perfectly-pitched for the living room TV. There’s also a pair of USB ports for connecting external drives, an SD card reader slot on the top, plus an Ethernet port for those who don’t want to rely on the built-in 802.11n wireless. On the rear you’ll find an HDMI port for piping a 1080p signal to the TV, as well as analogue stereo and optical S/PDIF output.
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