Amazon Firetube may be the next affordable set-top box to disrupt the Apple TV vs Chromecast media streaming stalemate.
The online retailer is reportedly readying a video-streaming device in time for the holidays, according to unnamed sources who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.
This goes along with the recently discovered U.S. and Canadian trademark for the name "Firetube" by Amazon Technologies, Inc., as first spotted by 9to5Google.
While there's no Amazon Firetube release date in sight, the company is said to have given app developers a mid-October deadline to submit their work, according to the Journal.
The power of the Amazon store
The Amazon set-top box, reportedly codenamed "Cinnamon," could spice up the media streaming ecosystem.
It could open up to other apps, but heavily focus on hawking the Amazon Prime membership benefits and selling the store's additional video and music content that falls outside of the subscriptions service.
This is sort of what the Apple TV does with iTunes content up top, while also providing additional secondary apps like Netflix, Hulu Plus, YouTube and HBO Go.
The unconfirmed Amazon Firetube would enable the retailer to expand beyond the reach of its Kindle Fire tablets and rival devices like iOS, Xbox 360, PS3 and connected televisions and Blu-ray players.
Amazon could also harness the power of its online site to encourage users to add an affordable Firetube to their cart, sort of like it is doing right now with the Kindle Fire HDX tablet.
Seeing how Amazon just restocked Google's popular Chromecast media streaming adapter after two months of it being sold out, we could see the company eager to add its name to the fray soon for an even more interesting Apple TV vs Chromecast vs Firetube matchup.
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