Amazon's Long

Remember all those rumors about Amazon's super secret media console?

Turns out, it's probably pretty legit. We just got an invite from Amazon for a press event on April 2, where we'll get an update about Amazon's video business. On the invite is a picture of a couch with a bowl of popcorn. You see where I'm going with this.

Up to this point, the rumors have been unclear.

Will this new product, which is all but confirmed to be of the hardware persuasion, be a full-fledged set-top box? Will it include gaming? Or will it be a smart dongle that plugs into your TV, Chromecast-style?

The device is entering a competitive landscape, where Apple TV, Roku, and Boxee have a strong foothold. And you can't forget about Google's $35 Chromecast entrant.

But in a world where everyone is hooked on binge-viewing and on-demand content, Amazon has a good opportunity to push people toward its own video content.

As it stands now, Amazon Instant video is included with your Prime package as a last ditch effort to get you to sign into the Amazon Video app on your Roku or Apple TV, instead of the much more prominent and popular apps like Netflix, HBO Go, and Hulu.

With it's own Box, Amazon could offer all the same channels as its competitors and give more prominent placement to its own original and licensed content. Or, if they don't want to tell any of these new devices, they could exclude other content sources and just focus on Amazon Instant Video offerings.

Luckily, we'll have all the answers we need on April 2.