Amazon is, reportedly, planning to launch its own brand of television products in the U.S. sometime in October. Sources with knowledge in the matter said the company has been working on the plan for almost two years.
Amazon currently has a wide variety of Amazon-branded products and private label brands, which range from household goods, office supplies, and tech accessories. The company also launched its own line of television sets in India under its AmazonBasics brand last year.
The company previously also teamed up with television manufacturers to exclusively sell products with its Fire TV software. However, those products carried the branding of the manufacturer instead of Amazon's.
Sources said the new products that will be launched in the U.S. later this year will bear Amazon's branding. The company will, reportedly, be using teams from its Amazon Devices and Lab126 subsidiaries to develop the products.
Inside sources said Amazon's new TVs will be coming with its artificial intelligence-powered virtual assistant, Alexa, built-in. Sources said the production of the TVs will be delegated to third-party companies, one of which is Chinese electronics manufacturer TCL. The Chinese company currently produces TVs for other brands, including Samsung and Alcatel.
In India, Amazon is working with Radiant Appliances and Electronics Pvt for the manufacturing of its TVs. The products all come with Fire TV operating systems and Alexa-powered voice controls.
When the products are launched, Amazon will be in direct competition with other electronics manufacturers such as Samsung, Sony, and LG - all of which already sell their products on Amazon's online marketplace.
Sources said Amazon's TVs will mostly be big-screen models ranging from 55 inches to 75 inches. The TVs are likely to hit online and offline retailers by October barring any supply chain issues and bottlenecks.
Amazon has not yet issued a statement in response to the report. As for pricing, analysts said the TVs could be priced similarly to the company's products in India. Amazon's 55-inch AmazonBasics TV in India sells for about $588, while its smaller 50-inch model costs about $506.
Apart from Amazon, Apple has also been rumored to be working on its own TV brand. Apple co-founder, Steve Jobs, said before he died that the company is working on a TV that will provide users with the best TV interface and experience.
