Today, Amazon took the veil off of its long-rumored streaming device, Fire TV, which puts it into direct competition with AppleTV, Chromecast, and Roku.
It's a small, Internet-connected device that can search for content when a user speaks into its remote. Along with video streaming, Fire TV will also double as a game console complete with its own controller. The device runs at $99 and an extra $40 for the controller, which brings the whole set-up to about $140. While it seems like the device will be going head-to-head with other streaming devices, Roku and Chromecast have a huge advantage over Amazon's device in price alone. Roku runs at about $50 for its streaming stick, and Chromecast clocks in at $35. This puts Fire TV more in line with AppleTV, despite the extra power it has for gaming. Apple owners will still head to AppleTV to stay within the Apple ecosystem, Roku owners and Chromecast owners are likely satisfied with their product, and gamers, well, already have game consoles. Plus, that controller is fugly.
While Amazon's device is solid, it probably won't be enough to lure people out of the TV dens powered by Google and Apple.
Get it here.
