Amazon's Set Top Box Will Be A Dongle Like Chromecast, Could Feature OnLive-Style Streaming
Amazon is readying a game console/set top box of its own, and we've learned from multiple sources familiar with the device that the Lab126-produced gadget will have a form factor similar to the Chromecast …
Context & Ripple Effects
The device has been leaking in stages since the Wall Street Journal reported last October that Amazon was readying a set-top box aimed at the 2013 holiday season, a target it evidently missed. By February, Re/code sources described an Android-based Web TV box competing with Apple TV and Roku for a March rollout, and last week Gigaom added that it would ship with Netflix and Hulu Plus apps.
Today's TechCrunch report narrows the picture considerably: multiple sources say the gadget is built by Amazon's Lab126 hardware group, takes a dongle form factor like Google's Chromecast rather than a traditional set-top box, and could add OnLive-style game streaming alongside a rumored Bluetooth gaming controller — photos of which allegedly surfaced through an overseas regulatory filing. The breadth of same-day pickups, including the Journal placing shipment in April, suggests a launch is imminent.
First-order effects
- Amazon enters TV streaming hardware directly against Roku, Apple TV, and Google's Chromecast, with a cheaper-to-make dongle design instead of another box under the television.
- Rival services ride along: per the sourced reports, Netflix and Hulu Plus ship on board even though they compete with Amazon's own video service, making the device a neutral portal rather than a Prime-only endpoint.
Second-order effects
- Roku and Apple TV now face an entrant that can treat hardware as a loss leader for its retail and media businesses, pressuring them to defend on price or bundle their own content more aggressively.
- If OnLive-style streaming ships with the rumored Bluetooth controller, Amazon positions itself against casual-console territory without manufacturing one — putting Nintendo and Sony's entry-level market in the crosshairs of a cloud-gaming play.
Third-order effects
- The pattern points toward streaming devices as cheap storefronts for subscription ecosystems, where the hardware margin matters less than the recurring media revenue attached to it.
- Game streaming from commodity dongles, if it works here, erodes the assumption that living-room gaming requires dedicated consoles — though whether latency and licensing hold up at dongle-class hardware remains the open question.
The trend: TV streaming hardware is consolidating around low-cost dongles tied to content ecosystems, with each major platform using its own media library as the subsidy.