After having been rumored for some time, tech powerhouse Amazon.com (AMZN -1.11%) finally joined the likes of Apple's (AAPL -0.81%) Apple TV last week when it unveiled its own streaming set-top box -- Amazon Fire TV.
And while Amazon's shadow looms particularly large in any new market the e-commerce giant enters, it's still unclear how Amazon's Fire TV will fare in what appears to be a coming head-to-head battle with Apple TV.
Apple versus Amazon: Can there only be one?
As the smartphone and tablet markets slowly mature, tech investors everywhere are searching for the next big growth driver.
And while opinions are certainly varied, most agree that infusing televisions with a healthy increase in software could go a long way to make today's smart TVs, well, a lot smarter.
Source: Amazon.com
However, as we've seen in the tablet and smartphone markets as well, there's plenty of room for multiple vendors. The smart TV or smart set-top box market is expected to go some 25% this year, and that's still as names like Apple and Amazon have even better services rumored to be in development.
So, from the looks of it, Apple and Amazon are more likely to co-exist than to disrupt one another in this emerging space. However, that doesn't mean Amazon's Fire TV could spell serious trouble for another set of companies, which tech and telecom analyst Andrew Tonner discusses in the video below.
