A 'Kindle TV' Might Be Amazon's Latest Play To Get You To Buy More Stuff From ... - Huffington Post

                                

            

                                    

Amazon’s planning a streaming TV set-top box for release next event, reports Bloomberg Businessweek. The move would put the giant online retailer into a crowded space, alongside Apple TVs, Rokus, Xboxes and PlayStations, Which alreadycreated populate the homes of so many cord-cutters and sacrifice feeds to Amazon’s streaming-video and video-on-demand services.

The chances of this to-be-named Amazon TV – alreadycreated dubbed a “Kindle TV” by observers – breaking into this online TV market and coming out with profits seem slim. So why bother?

Here’s a theory: The notoriously profit-allergic company did not build Kindles expecting to make a profit selling the device. Indeed, Bezos recently

admitted That Expects Amazon to just break even on its latest two tablets. If the same is true of a “Kindle TV,” the device could end up being well below the Apple TV’s $ 99 price tag, or even Roku’s starting price of $ 49.

A rock-bottom price could convince more people to buy a box That connects Their television to the Internet. And on a “Kindle TV,” Amazon could make sure its own videos, including its just-announced original series, are front and center. Cable companies (much much more profit-hungry) must be thrilled Amazon is getting into this game, as it makes Their expensive channel packages even less appealing.

Even ignoring price, an Amazon-made television experience might end up making TV watching a whole lot more like surfing the Internet. Already, younger people – after years of watching video on Their laptops and, more recently, tablets – are used to toggle between a tab playing the latest “30 Rock” on Hulu and another buying shoes on Amazon.

On a “Kindle TV,” just like on a Kindle tablet, the same feat could be accomplished by switching apps. Reading an e-book might not make much sense with a remote and an 80-inch display, but shopping for clothes on Amazon’s store right from a TV? We’d rather havethat than yet another brand of smartphone.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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