Amazon’s Android set-top box reportedly set for March release

It didn’t make its intended launch window of the 2013 holiday shopping season, but Amazon’s web TV set-top box is apparently still very much on the roadmap. Recode reports word from multiple sources today that Amazon is aiming for a March rollout of its Apple TV and Roku competitor. Having invested in developing a rich and varied Prime Instant Video library, Amazon has done a good job of distributing that content across platforms, but there are obvious benefits to the web company controlling and selling its own hardware.

Up to this point, the anticipation has been that an Amazon set-top box would run on Android, likely a customized version of the software as can be found on its Kindle tablets, with third-party app support helping to get other content providers involved as well. Today’s report affirms that’s still the plan, though additional speculation about the device also serving as a gaming platform is unfortunately left uncorroborated.