Roku devices can be found in millions of households, but what does “Roku” actually mean?
The Origins of Roku
Roku Inc. was founded all the way back in 2002 byAnthony Wood.
Prior to Roku, Wood had founded ReplayTV, a DVR company that attempted to compete with TiVo.
Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek
After selling ReplayTV, Wood started working at Netflix.
In 2007, Wood became a VP at Netflix and worked on the “Netflix Player.”
The idea was to create a equipment to allow people to stream Netflix on their TVs.
Roku / IEEE Spectrum
However, CEO Reed Hastings decided to drop the project.
The “Netflix Player” was then taken over by Roku.
The first Roku was released in 2008.
It was still developed in collaboration with Netflix.
The original Roku unit had support for Channels (apps) just like modern versions.
Since then, Roku has released new models nearly every year.
The originalset-top box form factorhas continued to be the company’s “flagship” product.
It’s now joined byRoku Streaming Sticks,asoundbar, andTVs with Roku software built-in.
As of January 2022, Roku has over 60 million active users.
Roku is largely credited with popularizing the idea of astreaming deviceconnected to your TV.
It’s a very popular gadget category nowadays.
Related:What Is a Roku TV?
What Does “Roku” Mean?
So how about that name?
Roku () means “six” in the Japanese language.
Wood chose the name as it was the sixth company he started.
There’s not a lot of information about the previous five companies he founded.
Wood’s pre-Roku ventures were not as successful as the streaming media giant that Roku has become.
That’s all there is to it.
Roku was founder Anthony Wood’s sixth company, and Roku means “six” in Japanese.
Now there aremany devicesbearing this name to choose from.
