Amazon + TiVo?<< On the road... off to Nokia and Mobius | Main | Off for the High Holidays >> Michael Gartenberg | September 22, 2006, 10:51 AM The folks at Engadget point to a NY Post article on a possible Amazon and TiVo relationship. It's not a bad idea in theory but it's hard to see how this is a substantial advantage. The biggest problem of the Amazon stuff, is that it just doesn't work very well. Until they get the bugs out and make sure this stuff works 100% of the time, it's not a real threat to anyone. There's nothing confirmed yet, but the New York Post is reporting that Amazon and TiVo are currently in talks regarding a feature that would allow the playback of Amazon Unbox videos on TiVo's set-top boxes. If something like this works out, it would give Amazon a substantial advantage in arena of getting online video to the living room, since Apple's "iTV" device is still in prototype mode. Amazon already has a bit of a leg up on Apple in the online movie space, since they've got rights to films from a lot more studios, but Apple's iPod ensures a substantial customer base that won't be downloading PlaysForSure files anytime soon, so studios will have to cave sooner or later. TiVo really seems like a natural fit for Amazon, and hopefully they can get this functionality in the hands of consumers before iTV steamrolls the market, but we'll have to wait and see how legit this rumor turns out to be. |
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