Amazon Developing Competitor to Apple TV Set-Top Box

[lkrupp]

Apple is really dropping the ball by not allowing third party apps on the AppleTV. The space is wide open, and Amazon offers a great product with Prime. If they capitalize on that with a cheap set top box that allows apps, they can really own the space.
Apple has a great opportunity to change the whole industry with an app-enabled ATV. Video games, channel-specific streaming, etc. there's huge demand for this, and while I'm sure they're working on it, they can't wait forever.

Baloney!

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"The box will compete with similar offerings like the Apple TV..."

What, like the Kindle "competes" with the iPad?

 

[iMikeT]

Will Amazon operate at a loss while developing this, like they do with everything else they release?

 

[DTphonehome]

Baloney!

Thank you for that well-thought out rebuttal. Clearly you are correct. I am chastened and have embarrassed myself and my ancestors.

 

[samcraig]

Will Amazon operate at a loss while developing this, like they do with everything else they release?

Is that a customer concern? Or a stockholder concern?

 

[Rogifan]

So is this going to be another Apple "killer" like the Kindle Fire was?

 

[iamkarlp]

Have no idea why there is so much hate for the ATV over at Apple, going for years calling it a hobby, etc.

There is no hate. It is a hobby. You gotta remember, no matter how vocal this crowd may sometimes be - this was (and in many ways still is) a very niche business. Typically a company like Apple wouldn't even be involved in such a product. The very fact that they have continued to even look at it, shows that they know there will be a market in the future.

Consider the aTV as a prospector laying claim. At the moment they are just keeping up appearances. Making sure that it has a story to tell (Integration with the rest of your Apple Products & Services more than anything)

Once they have found the appropriate interface to control a TV* in a living room setting, they will re-define what the aTV is and show the world what they have been working on.

When SJ says he cracked the TV, my guess is he was referring to the control mechanism; and that's fine if other people know that. They still have no idea what it may be.**

Karl P

* - I don't think that it exists yet, or at least in a useable form. Maybe for some reason it just can't exist yet

** - They may not even realize that what we currently have doesn't work well enough to be a player outside of a curious niche.

 

[samcraig]

So is this going to be another Apple "killer" like the Kindle Fire was?

Apples and oranges. How "smart" does a set top box have to be. If the Amazon box has a decent UI and accesses Amazon's movie/tv library - and it's "cheap" - that's all they need. They don't need to "kill" anything.

 

[Kabeyun]

Too bad Apple doesn't innovate.
Maybe they mean "imitate."

 

[Rogifan]

Is that a customer concern? Or a stockholder concern?

I suppose its both, if you're a customer that's some how invested in AMZN. It still blows my mind that Apple can make in one quarter more profit than Amazon has made in its entire existence.

 

[nepalisherpa]

Apple TV should have had Appstore since two iOS ago!

 

[2bikes]

Actually - I wonder if they would offer the box free to prime members as an incentive to sign up

Good point! That would bring extra pressure on Netflix which I think is the real competition for Amazon Prime (at least for a while).

 

[johncrab]

Amazon just can't decide what it wants to be so it is charging off in a hundred directions, doing nothing particularly well.

 

[numlock]

I am guessing everything is being devoted to the iPhone/iPad teams and products.

I agree 100% with your statement. This box could do so much more!!!

that really is quite pathetic considering apples size. and lets not fool ourselves into thinking that something revolutionary happens every year with the different sized touch device.

apple is so much on its heels its embarrassing

 

[alent1234]

Apple is really dropping the ball by not allowing third party apps on the AppleTV. The space is wide open, and Amazon offers a great product with Prime. If they capitalize on that with a cheap set top box that allows apps, they can really own the space.
Apple has a great opportunity to change the whole industry with an app-enabled ATV. Video games, channel-specific streaming, etc. there's huge demand for this, and while I'm sure they're working on it, they can't wait forever.

airplay, a feature that amazon instant video disables in their app

 

[yano729]

Apple should buy netflix and then take care of the live tv sports/news stuff and they will be golden. netflix is already experiencing a slight decline in its market as people just share their username and password with everyone. Apple is obviously better at preventing this then netflix and would make perfect sense with that mound of cash sitting in apples hand.

 

[Rogifan]

Apples and oranges. How "smart" does a set top box have to be. If the Amazon box has a decent UI and accesses Amazon's movie/tv library - and it's "cheap" - that's all they need. They don't need to "kill" anything.

Guess I should have used a /s tag. These days every product rumor from another company is called an Apple [insert product name here] killer. I mean no other reason for this to be front page news on MR is there?

 

[nepalisherpa]

It's amazing how much lead time Apple had with the Apple TV and how little they've done with it.

Man, I agree with you.

 

[samcraig]

I suppose its both, if you're a customer that's some how invested in AMZN. It still blows my mind that Apple can make in one quarter more profit than Amazon has made in its entire existence.

If I'm a customer - I don't care whether or not Amazon is making a profit on a device they are selling me as long as the device I am buying works as promised and is worth what I am paying for it (value/bargain).

If I am a stockholder - of course I care about profit margins.

I'm just trying to understand the comment made. Was it snarky as a dig on Amazon's hardware model - or a genuine question. Because again - as a customer - I'm not sure why I would concern myself with Amazon's bottom line.

Whatever they will charge for the device won't really concern me with "lifetime" of usage. It's not like Amazon will release the box and then be out of business a few months later. Buying "into" their ecosystem isn't much of a risk.

 

[alent1234]

Apples and oranges. How "smart" does a set top box have to be. If the Amazon box has a decent UI and accesses Amazon's movie/tv library - and it's "cheap" - that's all they need. They don't need to "kill" anything.

if all it does is amazon instant video, then its a major fail

 

[b_scott]

also Roku competitor. Among many others. No one wants more set top boxes.

 

[samcraig]

Guess I should have used a /s tag. These days every product rumor from another company is called an Apple [insert product name here] killer. I mean no other reason for this to be front page news on MR is there?

I would agree with that. There's a lot of link/post bait on this site - more than from what I remember a few years back. Then again - competition is greater.

if all it does is amazon instant video, then its a major fail

Never said that's all it would do. And if that IS all it did but was offered free with prime membership - I think it could still be successful as a means to stream movies/tv shows to a TV that isn't "connected" of which there are millions out there.

I guess we'll see what is released when it's released. Until then - I guess we'll read a lot of posts about "fail" or the like. Silly nonsense if you ask me.

 

[mattopotamus]

Exactly. They make tiny little tweaks here and there, but it's not much different than when it first came out. I bet they're hesitant because of poor interface via remote, but everyone has a smartphone now, and if you integrate siri, you can eliminate a lot of typing/searching. Apple is giving everyone else a huge opening.

The good news is that is works with a bluetooth keyboard now, so makes navigation and searching waaayyyy better.

One of the main things I was looking for in a new tv was amazon instant video. Kind of works out that panasonic makes the best plasmas and has it built in.

 

[iamkarlp]

I suppose its both, if you're a customer that's some how invested in AMZN. It still blows my mind that Apple can make in one quarter more profit than Amazon has made in its entire existence.

Give it a decade or so.

They are slowly killing their competition*

While I agree that Amazon has a crazy valuation, the reality is they are in the process of building a "legal monopoly" the likes of which we may have never seen before.

Once Amazon has built enough infrastructure and made enough deals (all while running on savagely thin margins) they will have legally suffocated* a good portion of the market. Once that happens they can get down the business of making money.

Lots. Of. Money.

With no effective competition and the cost of trying to compete coming with an astronomical** start up price to even take a (statistically dangerous) stab at it, Amazon will be able to charge what they or their shareholders want.

Not saying this will end up happening, but that's the long game - and the one which Wall St is very, highly interested in.

Karl P


* If not by shutting them down outright, then by using market pressure to force them to succumb to use amazon for payment processing, distribution or even their IT infrastructure.

** Billions upon Billions upon Billions

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Truly sad

The ``ME TOO'' World continues forward.

 

[OtherJesus]

Amazon: the company that posts no profit but investors touch themselves over their stock.

Edit- I buy from amazon a few times a year and enjoy their marketplace.