The Amazon Fire TV has been around for a few years now and has seen some success. So the next logical option for the company is to chase after the competition. In a joint announcement, Amazon and Best Buy unveiled plans for an Amazon Fire TV Edition. This is basically exactly what Roku does with TCL and other manufacturers, build the device into a smart TV. In this case, Amazon and Best Buy will be partnering with Toshiba and Insignia.
“Amazon and Best Buy have a long history of working together, and today we take our partnership to a new level,” said Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder and CEO. “These Fire Edition smart TVs by Insignia and Toshiba deliver beautiful visuals and all the movies and TV shows you love, with an experience that gets better every day with Alexa. We could not have a better partner in this endeavor.”
“Our partnership with Amazon is exciting because we believe Fire TV Edition delivers an incredible user experience and further strengthens the growing connection between home theater, home automation and voice control.”
The Amazon Fire TV Edition is exactly what it sounds like. You’ll have all of your normal TV functions but with the addition of Fire TV which can access content such as PlayStation Vue, Hulu, Netflix, Vudu, Plex, and more. One thing these new TVs will feature is Alexa integration, for you smart home buffs out there.
Fire TV Edition includes a Voice Remote with Alexa, making it easy to launch apps, search for TV shows, play music, switch inputs, control smart home devices, and more. It can also be paired with any Echo device allowing you to easily use your voice to control your TV experience hands-free with Alexa.
Fire TV Edition continues to improve even after your purchase, with more new Alexa skills, software features, and applications added regularly. Tens of thousands of Alexa skills are already accessible today, allowing you to have amazing entertainment experiences, view and control your smart home connected cameras, lighting, security systems, and more.
It will be interesting to see if this move benefits Amazon and its partners. Customers in the United States will have the ability to purchase the first Amazon Fire TV Edition smart TV from Toshiba beginning this summer, with additional models to be released later in 2018. Fire TV Edition smart TVs will be available exclusively in Best Buy stores, on BestBuy.com, and for the first time, from Best Buy as a third-party seller on Amazon.com. The new Fire TV Edition smart TVs will be available for purchase in Canada later this year. No pricing announced.
What do you think of these Amazon TVs? Will you be buying one? Let us know in the comments below or on Google+, Twitter, or Facebook.
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