Amazon is the latest company to jump on the streaming media stick bandwagon with Fire TV, a new $US39 streaming media stick set to compete with Google’s Chromecast and Mozilla’s Matchstick.
The Fire TV Stick is the latest tech gadget from the online retail giant, joining the Kindle Fire tablet, Fire Phone smartphone and Fire TV set top box, all run a version of Android that uses Amazon’s Kindle download stores rather than Google Play.
The device is controlled with a remote control rather than a smartphone, and includes 1 gigabytes of RAM, 8 gigabytes of storage, dual-band and dual-antenna Wi-Fi.
Amazon goes so far as directly comparing its new device to Google’s Chromecast in its official statement announcing the device.
“Fire TV Stick has 50% more processing power and 2x the memory of Chromecast… this results in faster and more fluid navigation, plus more storage for apps and games,” Amazon states.
The company claims a number of major US streaming video companies will provide content to the device, including Netflix, YouTube, Prime Instant Video, Prime Music, Hulu, ESPN, the NBA, Showtime, Spotify, Pandora, Vevo, A&E, PBS and Disney Channel.
Andrew Sadauskas is a former journalist at SmartCompany and a former editor of TechCompany.
