The picture in question (pasted here) originally appeared in the Roku forums. It shows off how the Amazon VOD system looks in the Roku menu system. Tucked away near the Amazon logo is a tiny YouTube logo. This is leading many to believe that content from the video-sharing giant will soon be making its way to the device, perhaps after Amazon’s VOD service hits early this year.
We contacted Roku yesterday for comment and Tim Twerdahl, the company’s vice president of consumer products, emailed us the following response:
“Somebody somewhere mocked something up. That’s not a real screenshot.”
So officially, the excitement surrounding that image is all for naught. Now I’m aware that Twerdahl could just be giving me the runaround. I followed up with him to see if Roku is working with YouTube and if so, when to expect it, but haven’t heard back yet. But it’s almost a foregone conclusion that YouTube will be on the device.
YouTube is already on a ton of other devices like the Apple TV, the Netgear Digital Entertainer Elite, Verismo, TiVo, the HP Mediasmart Connect, etc. Why wouldn’t it make its way to the Roku? Additionally, Roku has already opened itself up to all comers. YouTube is huge; why not allow a RokuTube?