Rumours on Amazon working on a smartphone are nothing new, but Bloomberg claims the online retailer has another device in the works-- an online video streaming TV STB.
According to "three people familiar with the project" the STB is a Roku/Boxee-style device providing access to the growing stable of Amazon video content, including Video on Demand and Instant Video services.
The company declines to comment.
The Bloomberg sources do not mention whether the STB will offer competing streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, YouTube) like Amazon's own Kindle Fire does. A name is not available either, although "Kindle TV" sounds like a more than obvious choice of moniker.
Reportedly working on the device is Amazon's Lab126, with ex-Cisco emerging video product VP Malachy Moynihan as project lead. Other team members include former TiVo and Vudu engineer Andy Goodman and ReplayTV hardware architect Chris Coley.
Amazon has growing video ambitions-- it dabbles in original programming (via Amazon Studios) and owns exclusive streaming rights to shows such as Downton Abbey. Thus the retailer's going for TV might make sense, and should it leverage on its existing app and cloud ecosystems it might actually be on a winner.