Holy Moly, This is a good business deal
Amazon and Tivo announced a partnership to make Amazon’s unbox content available to Tivo users through the broadband connected set-top boxes. As I explained a few weeks ago, this is precisely the kind of partnership the home-movie business needed so someone could challenge Apple’s moves into the living room.
All of the necessary elements are there: a huge living-room located subscriber base, a good method for distribution, and a reputable on-line partner. If they can nail the user experience–which at this point is Apple’s true competitive advantage–then the Tivo/Amazon combo could prove formidable indeed. But what about cable?
The good news, at least so far, for all three companies, is that cable companies have been slow in changing its on-demand model to include a wide variety and permanent selection of movies. As long as those sleeping giants remain in bed, Apple, Tivo, Amazon (and Walmart, Microsoft, etc.) can continue to expand their businesses in the living room, and take a greater share out of consumers’ wallets.
Don’t forget about Yahoo!, whose Yahoo! Connected Life initiative is a top priority. With partnerships in place with SBC/AT&T, Verizon and others, cable and web could indeed be poised to join forces to challenge the aforementioned players in Joe’s post.
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