Dear Customers,
Today we are unveiling Amazon Fire TV.
Fire TV is a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV. It's the easiest way to enjoy Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, low-cost video rentals, and more. With instant access to over 200,000 TV episodes and movies, plus all your favorite subscriptions and streaming services, you can watch what you want, when you want. If you're a Prime member, you get unlimited access to thousands of popular movies and TV shows, including exclusives like Downton Abbey, The Americans, Alpha House, and Under the Dome.
Fire TV has voice search that actually works. The old way of searching with a TV remote—scrolling and clicking one letter at a time on an alphabet grid—is painful. With Fire TV you simply speak the title, actor, or genre into the remote and you're done.
Fire TV may be tiny on the outside, but it has huge hardware specs on the inside. It has a powerful quad-core processor, dedicated GPU, 2 GB of memory, and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi. With a fast, fluid interface, high definition 1080p video, and Dolby Digital Plus surround sound, Fire TV looks—and sounds—amazing. We also added an exclusive new feature called ASAP that predicts what movies and TV episodes you'll want to watch and gets them ready to stream instantly. No one likes waiting for videos to buffer.
As a bonus, we also added games. With Fire TV you can play blockbuster titles like Minecraft, The Walking Dead, Monsters University, the Amazon exclusive Sev Zero, plus great free games. There are over a hundred titles to explore, with thousands more coming soon. These games are a great value—the average price of paid games is only $1.85.
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Founder & CEO
PS — Here's a preview of a fun new television ad for Fire TV that will begin airing soon. Enjoy.
Press Release:
Introducing Amazon Fire TV: The Easiest Way to Watch Netflix, Prime
Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, and More on Your Big-Screen TV.
Powerful performance with 3x the processing power, 4x the memory, dedicated
GPU, and dual-band, dual-antenna Wi-Fi
Say it, watch it—use voice search to instantly find movies, TV shows, and
more
New ASAP feature predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll want to watch
and prepares them for playback before you even hit play
Huge, open ecosystem of entertainment—choose from over 200,000 movies and
TV episodes
Plus, Fire TV comes with access to games from EA, Disney, Gameloft,
Mojang, 2K, Amazon Game Studios, and more.
Kindle
revolutionized reading by making it possible to think of a book and be reading
it in less than 60 seconds. Kindle Fire put the world’s largest selection of
movies, TV shows, songs, apps, games, books, audiobooks, and magazines in the
palm of your hand. In each case, Amazon integrates the hardware, software,
and the content into an easy-to-use, seamless, end-to-end service for
customers. Today, Amazon is excited to unveil its newest
innovation—Fire TV, a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV for easy and instant
access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, SHOWTIME,
low-cost video rentals, and much more. Fire TV also brings photos, music, and
games to the living room. Meet Amazon Fire TV at www.amazon.com/FireTV.
“Tiny box, huge
specs, tons of content, incredible price—people are going to love Fire TV,”
said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com Founder and CEO. “Voice search that actually
works means no more typing on an alphabet grid. Our exclusive new ASAP feature
predicts the shows you’ll want to watch and gets them ready to stream
instantly. And our open approach gives you not just Amazon Instant Video and
Prime Instant Video, but also Netflix, Hulu Plus, and more. On Fire TV you
can watch Alpha House and House of Cards.”
Amazon Fire TV features:
- Voice search that actually works—simply speak the
name of a movie, TV show, actor, director, or genre into the remote, and
you’re done. No more
hunting and pecking in an alphabet grid.
- All the content—instant access to Netflix,
Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, YouTube, and
more, plus the largest selection of videos for rent and purchase—over
200,000 movies and TV episodes from Amazon Instant Video. Plus, listen to
music with Amazon MP3, Pandora, iHeartRadio, TuneIn, and more.
- Powerful performance in a tiny form
factor—quad-core processor with over 3x the processing power of Apple TV,
Chromecast, or Roku 3, a dedicated GPU, plus 4x the memory of Apple TV,
Chromecast, or Roku 3 for exceptional speed and fluidity. Delivers
stunning 1080p HD video and immersive Dolby Digital Plus surround sound.
All of this comes in an incredibly small package—Fire TV is 0.7” thin and
comes with a simple and sleek remote control with a built-in microphone.
- Simple and easy to use—arrives pre-registered so
you can start watching immediately out of the box.
- An exclusive new feature called ASAP (Advanced
Streaming and Prediction) predicts which movies and TV episodes you’ll
want to watch and buffers them for playback before you even hit
play—instant start.
- High-quality, low-cost gaming—games like Minecraft, Monsters
University, The Game of Life, The Walking Dead, NBA2K14, Asphalt 8,
Riptide GP2, Despicable Me: Minion Rush, and more. The average price
of paid games on Fire TV is $1.85. Play using your Fire TV remote,
the Fire TV app for smartphones and tablets, or the optional Fire game
controller.
- Amazon FreeTime revolutionizes parental
controls—parents can choose what their kids see and set time limits for
types of content and times of day—no more negotiating for one more show
before bedtime. Customers who subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited—Amazon’s
all-you-can-eat content subscription designed for kids ages 3 to 8—will
get unlimited access to thousands of movies and TV shows.
- X-Ray for movies, TV shows, and music—see
information about cast and crew, trivia, goofs, and synchronized lyrics.
- See all of your photos and personal videos come
alive on your big-screen TV—seamless integration with Amazon’s Cloud
Drive.
Simple and Easy to Use, with Powerful Performance
Powerful Quad-Core Processor and Graphics Engine
Fire TV features a
world-class quad-core processor with 3x the processing power of Apple TV,
Chromecast, or Roku 3, and a dedicated Adreno 320 graphics engine that
processes 57 billion floating point instructions per second, for lightning-fast
graphics and excellent fluidity. Fire TV comes with 2GB of memory, 4x the
memory of Apple TV, Chromecast, or Roku 3, so content loads faster and games
run smoother.
Streams in High Definition 1080p with Dolby Digital Plus Surround Sound
With dual-band,
dual-antenna Wi-Fi, Fire TV streams in up to full-HD 1080p and supports HDMI
and optical audio-out, enabling up to 7.1 DolbyDigital Plus surround
sound.
Simple and Easy to Use
Fire TV comes
automatically pre-registered so you can immediately get started. No complicated
set-up, no hassle—just plug it in and start watching. All of your previously
purchased movies and TV shows from Amazon, as well as personalized
recommendations and your Watchlist, will be there waiting for you when you turn
on Fire TV.
Designed to Disappear
Fire TV is
designed to disappear. It is 0.7” thin, so it is easy to hide, and is silent
even when running the most demanding applications.
Fire TV Remote
Fire TV’s remote
is small, simple, and intuitive, with familiar controls. Search, browse, play,
pause, and add titles to your Watchlist with ease. The Fire TV remote uses
Bluetooth so there is no “line of sight” required, which means no reaching or
struggling to aim your signal at a tiny target—store your Fire TV in a cabinet
or behind the TV.
Voice Search that Actually Works
Gone are the days
of searching for a movie or TV show by left-left-down-right-ing through an
on-screen alphabet grid using your remote. Simply speak the name of a movie, TV
show, actor, director, genre, app, or game into the remote, and the results
will appear instantly. Voice search leverages the search data and expertise of Amazon.com and
IMDb, and is optimized to understand Amazon’s video, app, and game catalog.
The Best Video Experience
Movies and TV Shows from Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, and
More
Fire TV comes with
instant access to all of the most popular subscription video services,
including Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, VEVO, SHOWTIME,
Crackle, YouTube, and more, with additional services like WWE Network,
MLB.TV, WATCH Disney Channel, WATCH ABC, and Twitch coming soon.
Prime Instant Video, with Exclusives and Original Shows
Fire TV is
seamlessly integrated with Prime Instant Video, Amazon’s subscription streaming
service. With tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes, Prime Instant Video
is the exclusive premium subscription streaming home for thousands of hours of
video, including shows likeDownton Abbey, The Americans, Workaholics,
Justified, 24, Hannibal, Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob, and more. Prime
Instant Video also includes shows from Amazon Studios, the original TV
production arm of Amazon, such as Alpha House from
Pulitzer-Prize winner Garry Trudeauand starring John Goodman, which
debuted last year and quickly became the most watched show on Amazon since
its release. Alpha House is now in production for its second
season, and Amazon recently greenlighted six new shows, including The
After, Bosch, Mozart in the Jungle, andTransparent,
which will be available starting later this year.
The Largest Selection of Videos for Rent or Purchase
Rent or purchase
over 200,000 movies and TV episodes from Amazon Instant Video, which has the
world’s largest selection of videos to rent or buy, including new releases and
blockbusters. Amazon is the only nationwide video service that offers
rental and purchase, as well as a subscription streaming service, so you can
find everything you want in one place—catch up on past seasons of popular TV
shows with Prime Instant Video before purchasing the most recent episode of the
show as it’s released.
Find the Lowest Price—Even if it’s Not from Amazon
Just like on Amazon.com,
Fire TV integrates viewing options on a single page so you can always choose
the lowest price. This is available starting with Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant
Video, and Prime Instant Video, and will expand to other content providers so
you’ll see all of your options in one place.
ASAP
You shouldn’t have
to wait 10 seconds for a video to buffer after you press “Play”—it should start
immediately. Based on your Watchlist and recommendations, the new ASAP
(Advanced Streaming and Prediction) feature predicts which movies and TV
episodes you’ll want to watch and prepares them for playback before you even
hit play. This feature is smart—it is personalized based on your viewing habits
and adapts as those habits change. The caching predictions get better over
time, so ASAP will continuously improve as you use Fire TV.
Fling TV Shows and Movies with Second Screen
Fling Amazon TV
shows and movies from your phone or tablet to your Fire TV using Second Screen.
This turns your TV into the primary screen and frees up your phone or tablet to
provide playback controls, a customized display for X-Ray, or simply a place to
email, browse the web, and more, while you watch a movie. Second Screen is
available on Kindle Fire HDX and will be available later this year from your
iPhone or iPad. You can also wirelessly mirror your tablet display to your Fire
TV with Kindle Fire, as well as other Miracast-enabled phones or tablets
starting later this year. Fire TV supports standards like DIAL, so app
developers can enable multi-screen experiences based on open technologies.
X-Ray for Movies and TV Shows, Powered by IMDb
Using Second
Screen on your Fire HDX and later this year on your iPhone or iPad, you can see
X-Ray information as your movie or TV show plays on Fire TV. With X-Ray you can
see information about cast and crew, the names of songs as they play, as well
as a list of all music in the movie or TV show, trivia items in context with
the action on the screen, and character backstories so you can easily remind
yourself of the character’s history. X-Ray is exclusive to Amazon and
is powered by IMDb.
Amazon FreeTime—Revolutionary Parental Controls
Now you don’t have
to worry about what your kids are watching on the TV—with FreeTime, a parent
creates profiles for each child and selects the content they can see. Parents
can create time limits based on type of content or time of day. When in
FreeTime, the background color and fonts change to a kid-friendly design. Kids
only see titles that have been selected by their parents for them, and those
who can’t yet read can navigate visually to content based on favorite
characters or topics—for example “Dora the Explorer,” “Princesses,” or “Thomas
and Friends.” Parents who have already set up profiles and approved content on
Kindle Fire tablets will find the settings are automatically synchronized on
Fire TV, making it simple and seamless to get started.
Customers who
subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited—Amazon’s all-you-can-eat content subscription
designed just for kids ages 3 to 8—will get unlimited access to thousands of
movies and TV shows. FreeTime Unlimited is available for Prime members to enjoy
for a monthly price of $2.99per child or $6.99 per family.
Customers who are not yet Prime members can subscribe to FreeTime Unlimited for
a monthly price of $4.99 per child or $9.99 per family.
Amazon FreeTime and FreeTime Unlimited will be available on Fire TV starting
next month.
Your Photos on the Big Screen
Fire TV makes it
easy to view your photos and personal videos on your TV. You can set up and
play slide shows, find specific photos, and choose your favorite album for the
screen-saver on Fire TV. Photos or videos you take on your phone or tablet can
be automatically uploaded to Amazon Cloud Drive, so they appear on your
Fire TV within seconds.
Music in Your Living Room
Music from Pandora, Amazon MP3, iHeartRadio, and More
With Fire TV, you
can listen to music from popular streaming services like Pandora, iHeartRadio,
and TuneIn, and watch music videos from VEVO. Starting next month, you can also
listen to your full collection of music through Amazon Cloud Player. Simply upload
your music or purchase fromAmazon and it will be stored automatically in
your Cloud Player and available on Fire TV as well as on your phone or tablet.
X-Ray for Music
Lyrics display and
scroll line-by-line automatically as the song plays, so you can follow along
with songs. X-Ray for Music will be available starting next month.
Bonus—Great Games at Low Prices
Games from Top Developers
Amazon worked
with game developers like EA, Disney, Gameloft, Ubisoft, Telltale, Mojang,
2K, and Sega to bring their games to Fire TV. Games available starting today
include customer favorites like Minecraft, Monsters University,
The Game of Life, The Walking Dead, NBA2K14, Asphalt 8, Riptide GP2, Despicable
Me: Minion Rush, and more. Over 100 games are available starting today and
optimized for Fire TV, with thousands of additional games coming next month
with the Fire TV app, which brings controls for touch-enabled games. These are
great games for such a small box and at such surprisingly low prices—the
average price of paid games is $1.85.
Fire TV also comes
with access to Sev Zero, a new game built exclusively for Fire TV by Amazon
Game Studios. Sev Zero is $6.99 and is available for free when you
purchase the Fire game controller. Learn more: www.amazon.com/pr/SevZero.
Fire TV runs the
latest version of Fire OS “Mojito,” which is based on Android, so it’s simple
for developers to port their services and games over to Fire TV.
Choose How to Play—Remote, Game Controller, or App
In addition to
using the Fire TV remote and the Fire TV app available starting next month, you
can also choose the Amazon Fire game controller, which enables more
high-intensity and complex gaming with dual analog sticks and a complete
assortment of controls. Simple and comfortable to use for hours, the Fire game
controller pairs with Fire TV via Bluetooth. The Fire game controller also
intelligently manages power by automatically going to sleep when not in use,
and waking at a touch of a button, so you get up to 55 hours of gaming on a
pair of AA batteries. You can pair multiple game controllers with a Fire TV so
the whole family can play together in the same room. The integrated GameCircle
button gives you instant access to leaderboards, achievements and friends with
a simple touch of a button from any GameCircle enabled game. The Fire game
controller can also be used as a remote, with fast forward, rewind, play and
pause, so you can control all your movies and music on Fire TV. The Fire game
controller is available today for $39.99, and comes with a free copy of
Sev Zero and 1,000 Amazon Coins (a $10 value) for purchasing games.
The Features You Expect from Amazon
Fire TV is not a
gadget—it’s a seamlessly integrated service that brings together the features
customers expect from Amazon, including:
- Whispersync—Amazon’s
Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes your video and music library
across all of your devices. Start watching a movie on your Kindle Fire or
iPhone, and when you get home, pick up where you left off on your Fire TV.
For games that support Whispersync, your place in the game will also sync
across devices so you can always pick up where you left off.
- Watch on over 300 devices—When you buy a movie or TV show on Amazon,
you can watch it on over 300 devices.
- Worry-Free Archive—Automatically
backs up your Amazon digital content in the cloud so you never
need to worry about losing your collection.
- Top-Rated, World-Class Customer Service—When a customer shops on Amazon, buys a Fire
TV, or buys digital content from Amazon, they know that they are also
getting Amazon’s world class customer service. Customers with a Kindle
Fire HDX can also use the Mayday button to receive free, live, on-device
tech support.
- Free Month of Amazon Prime—Amazon continues to invest hundreds of millions
of dollars to bring Prime members new movies, TV shows, and books to enjoy
at no additional cost. Prime members enjoy unlimited, commercial-free,
instant streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes with
Prime Instant Video. Eligible customers get a free 30-day trial of Amazon
Prime when they purchase Fire TV.
Pricing & Availability
Fire TV is
available starting today for just $99—order at www.amazon.com/FireTV.
Eligible customers
get a free 30-day trial of Netflix and Amazon Prime when they
purchase Fire TV.
Images of Fire TV
are available at www.amazon.com/pr/devicesandcontent.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
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