So which big company did well-known Silicon Valley entrepreneur Blake Krikorian sell his latest start-up to: Apple or Google?

Earlier today, he suddenly resigned from the board of Amazon, which he joined only last fall.

The move was directly related to acquisition discussions that his id8 Group R2 Studios has been having with a number of large companies, including Apple and Google. Both are now major competitors to the online retailer, which is now deep into video distribution via its Kindle devices.

But grabbing Krikorian would be a coup for any player, since he is considered one of tech’s most savvy execs with regard to video and media distribution. He co-founded Sling Media, the maker of the innovative video device Slingbox, in 2004.

(Krikorian demoed it at the second D: All Things Digital conference in 2004.)

His latest effort is focused on home automation, which has been a personal interest of his for some time, including wiring (or, more precisely, wireless-ing) up his own house in a variety of ever more complex digital experiments.

He once told me he began to outfit his home using Apple devices and then switched to Google’s Android operating system since the software was easier and more extensible to develop on.

The Wall Street Journal had reported last week that Apple, Google and Microsoft were considering buying R2 Studios. It noted that id8 Group R2 Studios had released an “app that turns Android phones into touch panels for controlling heating and lighting systems wirelessly” and also has a number of other patents in the arena.

In addition, Amazon told the Journal today that Krikorian “opted to resign because he has sold his current firm ‘and is taking a position at the acquiring company.’”

Amazon was unspecific about the acquiring company.

But the list of candidates is large, since using popular automation devices to turbocharge the home has been a big area of investment of late, since tablets and smartphones can be turned into souped-up remote control to monitor and control a wide range of things.

Krikorian has been noodling around in the arena since he sold Sling Media in 2007 to EchoStar Communications for $380 million. After a short (and unhappy) stint there, Krikorian left and has since been working on a variety of projects and making various investments.

Those include some promising start-ups, such as Lytro, Kno, Clipboard, Chirply and Tasty Labs. Another company he invested in, Clicker, was sold to CBS earlier this year.

After he sold Sling Media, Google made an aggressive effort to hire Krikorian, but he initially rebuffed the search giant to work on his own projects.

I have calls into both Apple, Google and Krikorian, but they have not yet responded.

Categorised as: Chief Digital Officer | Digital Media | Feedster

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