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Amazon Launches $39 'Fire TV Stick' to Compete With Chromecast, Apple TV

iPadCary said:
You're right, of course. And I like the idea of a thumbdrive-sized STB!

But AppleTV being so far behind is actually a very good thing!
You see, STBs are mainstream now.
They're replacing Blu-Ray players, which, in turn, replaced DVD players.
STBs are a large "space" now, as the marketeers like to call it.
Because of this, Apple no longer sees AppleTV as an experiment anymore.
The market now is flooded with many competitors: Amazon, Google, Roku, etc.

And we all know what Apple does to a market that it previously didn't own, don't we ....
Yes, that's right: as you read this, Apple is putting the finishing touches on an
STB that will blow everyone else's out of the water in terms of capability, choice & ease-of-use.
And at just $99, everyone & his cousin Joe will buy one.
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Maybe - and maybe not. Maybe they won't get the content deals they seek and will just update their Apple TV with a new interface and open up an appstore. Which would still be more than fine and something we'd all welcome.

Given their resources and the huge appstore - you really have to wonder why they still haven't opened up AppleTV to an appstore allowing users to use their phones as controllers. Even if they wanted to revolutionize the TV industry with another box later - they could still do this "today."

I don't think anyone would balk at having two types/levels of Apple TV.
 
Deelron said:
You obviously aren't paying attention. Amazon generates massive revenues. Profits not so much. There are literally hundreds of articles covering Amazon's historical lack of profit, and when you're arguing how smart a CEO is, then it's reasonable to comment how his company has yet to do what companies are designed to do, so the jury is still out.

I'm drinking coffee tonight, it's quite good.

Apple TV isn't Apple's only business. $39 Fire TV Sticks aren't Amazon's only business (if I had to guess I imagine they both make virtually nothing from the boxes/sticks they sell, it's more about locking people into their ecosystem in terms of purchasing content/adding value to Prime). The response was directly to praising the genius of Jeff Bezos and how he's smarter then Tim Cook. He may absolutely be, but the company Cook stewards actually accomplishes the goal of large companies; Apple's profit continues to rise while Amazon has yet to raise anything but revenue. Creating a web based Walmart while throwing every bit of possible profit at trying to enter every industry imaginable does not make someone a genius.
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Unfortunately, Cook hasn't made the media deals that Bezos has.
Sorry, bad excuse. Right now Amazon is ahead of Apple in the TV biz. Until someone at Apple retracts Steve Jobs infamous "HOBBY" comment, no one will ever take Apple TV seriously.

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Chupa Chupa said:
Better question is what are you reading? It's not the news or you'd know Amazon will likely take a $40m loss the year after reporting disastrous losses for the previous quarter last week.
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One word.... ARIZONA!

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OldSchoolMacGuy said:
Amazon just posted record $437 million loss, so no, they aren't making money.

http://www.ibtimes.com/amazoncom-inc-posts-record-loss-q3-shares-tumble-1711785

On a device like this they generally take a loss or make nothing. It's about getting you to buy stuff like movie rentals, music downloads, etc once you have one. Same strategy with the Chromecast.

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Offer clearly states it's a 2 maximum.
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Amazon has been on both a buying and building spree. As a result losses were expected. That's how INVESTMENT works.

Sure, Apple is #1, but they won't be with Apple TV for long. The plan Bezos has is following exactly what Steve Jobs did with music. Make deals with the industry to get CONTENT. So far Cook has accomplished nothing on content deals.
 
Doh!

I haven’t ordered yet and one (of two) I had in my cart got booted out :D TBH, I wasn’t even sure about _any_ but I figured while I had the chance might as well get two.

I guess I’ll still pick up the one, even if it winds up being useful a few times, for $20, it’s kind of a what-the-heck. :cool:
 
groovyd said:
the mac mini is targeted to sell to the millions of grade schools and up in the developing world and at home that already have keyboards and monitors filling their junk bins but want to get their kids educated on the apple ecosystem. in most of these countries to see a school with apple computers brings a smile to the parents faces.
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But it doesn't HAVE to be. It could be more.
 
amazon fire tv>

kind of off topic but i am seeing a much better fire tv and stick than nexus player/chromecast
 
bawbac said:
Wow. Must be unfortunate to been denied a piece of technology for so long.

You guys still going to drive-ins to watch Mad Max & Muriel's Wedding for entertainment?
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You guys still watch shows as they air? Still pay for hundreds of channels you never watch? Sit down and watch whatever's just on?
 
peterdevries said:
I'm not sure that Amazon even knows what their core business is... Is it books? Online retail? Cloud Servers? Media?
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I'd say retail and probably web services. Books are just retail. Web services is like the airlines offering credit cards-- it's leveraging an existing asset. Maybe it doesn't fit perfectly, but for the time being it doesn't seem to be much of a distraction.

Media and consumer electronics are definitely not at their core.

Problem is Bezos wants to be Apple, not Ebay or eWallMart, because its sexier. This was just exacerbated by the early success of the Kindle. I get that they needed hardware to push into ebooks, but now there's plenty of hardware out there so its time to just make Kindle an app that runs everywhere.

I've no problem with another company playing in the consumer space, mind you, or even a Bezos company playing in that space. I just don't think it should be the same company that is doing retail.

Kindle has been shipping for 7 years now, time to let that business fend for itself.
 
I pre-ordered one for $19, it will be perfect for traveling, all of our Apple TV's are attached to the backs of wall-mounted flat-screen TV's. Needless to say its a PITA to remove (and then reattach once we return) one from the back when we go on a trip and want to take Netflix, etc, along with us.

I probably should have ordered two.
 
Mine was estimated delivery of Dec 2, but received it on the 21st so that was a nice surprise. Interface and apps all seem nice, I need to figure out of if it will allow me to use Plex to stream from a Chrome tab.
 
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