Roku’s $100 set-top box (U.S.-only) just got even more compelling. The company has launched its own app store of sorts – called the ‘Channel Store’ – that brings a growing number of third-party content sources to the device including Pandora (music streaming) Facebook photos, Flickr (photo sharing), along with FrameChannel, Mediafly’s podcast directory, Revision3 and more. Dave Zatz over at Zatz Not Funny has a few screen grabs and a nifty walk-through video (embedded above). The new content ‘widgets’ join existing partnerships with Netflix, Amazon VOD, and MLB.TV.
Of course, everybody is jumping on the app store or “I want to be a platform game” and it’s a smart move for Roku to do so too. But they are far from the first set-top box to ‘open up’ and go down the app store route. Vudu already has its Rich Internet Application (RIA) Platform, which enables third-parties to extend the device’s content offerings, and Boxee, while not officially on a set-top box yet (coming soon), also has its own Internet TV-oriented app store.
