Amazon has jumped into the TV stick arena to compete against similar devices from the likes of Google’s Chromecast and Roku.
This morning Amazon announced its Fire TV Stick, which is available to existing and new Amazon Prime customers for $19 over the next two days, or $39 as a standalone. Amazon is currently taking preorders for the Fire Stick with shipping slated for Nov. 19.
Like its competitors, the stick provides instant access to movies, TV shows, music, photos, apps, and games. Users can also backup their video content or pictures from their phones to Amazon Cloud Drive in order to provision them onto their Fire TV Sticks.
Amazon took direct aim at Chromecast by claiming that its dual core processor had 50 percent more processing power and two times the memory of a Chromecast stick. Compared to Roku, Amazon said the Fire TV Stick had six times the processing power and two times the memory. Chromecast typically sells for $35 while Roku’s Streaming Stick cost $49.
The Amazon dongle connects to HDMI ports on the back of HD TVs. The stick also includes a remote and an app that supports voice search on Fire and Android phones with iPhones to follow.
“Fire TV Stick is the most powerful streaming media stick available—a dual-core processor, 1 GB of RAM, 8 GB of storage, dual-band and dual-antenna Wi-Fi, included remote control, voice search with our free mobile app, easy set-up, an open ecosystem, and exclusive features like ASAP for instant streaming,” said Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. “The team has packed an unbelievable amount of power and selection into an incredible price point—Fire TV Stick is just $39.”
Amazon said the stick allows users to “fling” movies and TV shows from Fire tablets and Fire phones to the Fire TV Sticks and then to their TVs.
Amazon rolled out its Internet set-top box earlier this spring. Like the box, the stick, which uses the same Fire TV interface, provides access to services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, NBA Game Time, Prime Music, Spotify, Pandora, Vevo, Plex, A&E, PBS, PBS Kids, Watch Disney Channel, and YouTube.com.
To further sweeten the deal, Amazon is offering a free month of Amazon Prime with the purchase of a Fire TV Stick.
