It's always cool to own one of the first products made by a company known for other things. Besides Amazon, a company best known for selling the creations of others, and its successful foray into the world of e-readers (now called the Fire and classified as a tablet), another (probably poor) example that comes to mind is Ferrari shoes, which are still expensive and haven't been that successful, the latter statement based solely on my own observations. On Wednesday -- the same day on which I've reserved nighttime Settlers of Catan games for the last 14 months -- Amazon unveiled the latest markets it intends to crash: television-streaming and gaming.
The small, set-top box (about the size of Bill Gates' wallet after it's been stretched by 100 dollar bills) allows users to easily stream online content onto their televisions. The Fire TV (available for order today) joins Roku, Apple, and Chrome Cast as other providers of such services, Wired reported.
Separating Amazon's box ($99) is its gaming system. With the help of EA Games, Sega, Disney, and others, Fire TV will offer users a more versatile, interactive experience via thousands of exclusive games, according to Vice President of Amazon Games Michael Frazzini. To play them, customers will have to purchase the set's controllers ($40).
Games will be sold as apps, according to Wired. They'll also be available for Kindle Fire tablets.
Unlike similar systems from Google and Apple, Fire TV has the luxury of using pre-existing models and improving their mistakes. As a result, it suffers from less lag time (a common complaint of other devices) and can connect with almost every web service available, including Hulu, Netflix, WatchESPN, MLB.com, etc.
Fire TV also has some of its own features. As is becoming par for the course, voice command allows users to locate media without need of a remote. If they happen to be sifting through movies, they'll be able to note their imdb ratings (rather than the star system). When streaming music videos or simply listening to music, the lyrics will appear on the bottom of the screen.
Could Amazon's new product dominate the market and force Google, Apple, and others to design superior products? We consumers can only hope!
