Report: Amazon Plans Set-Top Streaming Box

Amazon has already conquered the online retail world, made great strides in the e-reader/tablet market, and entered the realm of TV and movie streaming. So what's next?

According to Bloomberg, Amazon is planning to release a television set-top box to stream video via the Internet.

Citing sources close to the matter, the news outlet reported that the unnamed device will hit shelves later this year, providing consumers with another option to stream content — inevitably including Amazon Video on Demand offerings. Amazon could also pull applications from its marketplace to integrate into the product, much like the Apple TV already does.

If the rumors are true, the online retailer is essentially playing catch-up with the competition, like Apple, Roku, Boxee, Microsoft, and Sony, which already have their own set-top box, or a game console, that delivers the same programming.

Still, it could live in harmony with services like Netflix, Hulu, and YouTube, all of which are currently available on Kindle Fire tablets.

Amazon declined to comment on the set-top box rumors.

The set-top box is reportedly under development at Amazon's Lab126 division, which is based in Apple's hometown of Cupertino, Bloomberg said. Malachy Moynihan, a former vice president at Cisco Systems Inc. who spent nine years at Apple in the 1980s and '90s, is reportedly heading up the project, with the help of engineers Andy Goodman — formerly a top engineer at TiVo and Vudu — and Chris Coley — once a hardware architect at ReplayTV.

Amazon is no stranger to streaming television. The company's original movie and series production arm, Amazon Studios, currently has 12 pilots underway, all of which will be available on Prime Instant Video and Amazon Instant Video once completed.

Jeff Bezos's company also recently landed exclusive streaming rights to the PBS hit Downton Abbey, and will be the exclusive online home of FX's Justified and the upcoming CBS show Under the Dome.