Amazon has been developing a set-top-box product for several months, and the company appears set to take the wraps off of it next week. Amazon has issued invitations for a media event to be held at 11 AM EST on Wednesday April 2nd.
The invite reads “please join us for an update on our video business,” and the couch and popcorn seems to point directly to a new video watching product. Last year, we reported on trademark filings that seem to indicate that Amazon has considered calling the device the “FireTube,” which blends nicely with the company’s other “Fire” branded devices.
The box is expected to feature applications, the streaming of Amazon Prime video content, games, and it may be controlled by either smartphone apps or a dedicated hardware remote control. The new product comes amidst work from both Apple and Google on their own new boxes. Like the Kindle Fire, it is likely that the set-top-box’s software will be based on the Android OS.
Apple’s successor to the current Apple TV has been planned to be introduced in the first half of 2014, and sources have said that the new device will include new types of content (like apps), improved gaming integration, and perhaps improved networking technologies.
We’ll have live coverage of the proceedings next week, so stay tuned.
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