Report: Amazon may release a set-top box in March

Amazon could release its rumored set-top box this March, Recode reports based on interviews with Amazon partners.

According to Recode's sources, the unnamed Android-powered box "would compete with Apple TV and Roku's line of products, which make it easy to move video from the Internet onto your TV." It is unclear whether the set-top-box would "function as a gaming hub."

Today's report is the latest in a series about a streaming set-top box from Amazon, existence of which the company has never confirmed. Reports last April cited anonymous sources that expected it to be released in fall 2013. Last August, reports also claimed that Amazon was creating an Android-powered gaming console.

If announced, the set-top box would be the latest in the company's consumer hardware initiatives like its Kindle e-book readers. First introduced in 2011, Amazon's Kindle Fire tablets run a forked version of Google's Android operating system called Fire OS. Those tablets include a custom interface tied into Amazon's ecosystem, including its Amazon Instant Video streaming service and the Amazon App Store, where users can purchase games.

Amazon also founded Amazon Game Studios, which released its first video game, Living Classics, in August 2012. Last year, Halo novel writer Eric Nylund joined the developer as its director of narrative design. Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed that it acquired Double Helix Games, the developer of the recent Killer Instinct and Strider reboots.

We've reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this article with more information as we receive it.