Forget the battle for smartphone supremacy: The war for consumers’ living rooms is where the action is. 9to5Google notes that Amazon has filed a trademark application for something called “Firetube” that it suspects will be a device lets users stream content from their computers to their television sets. Furthermore, unnamed sources tell The Wall Street Journal that Amazon is preparing to launch its own TV set-top box this holiday season that will “serve as a delivery vehicle for Amazon’s existing streaming video service.”
Major tech companies have been trying to chip away at the traditional television model recently by giving consumers more options for watching their favorite programs through their Internet connections instead of through pay television channels so it’s not surprising to see that Amazon may want to get in on the action. The Journal’s sources say that the Amazon set-top box will also be “styled as a platform to run apps and content from a variety of sources” and will eliminate Amazon’s dependence on other devices to get its streaming services into consumers’ living rooms.
