Online retailer Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) announced two new Fire TV products during a product event.
Amazon’s Fire TV competes directly with Roku and Apple TV, and enables people to access popular apps like Disney+, Netflix and Hulu directly on Internet connected television sets.
Amazon says people are spending more time in front of TVs than ever before due to the pandemic, and it sees the TV as the center of the household and wants to get even more features in front of users.
The new features may help Amazon compete more aggressively against Roku (NASDAQ:ROKU), which still has a 50% market share of global connected TV streaming hours with strong growth opportunities, according to an analysis by Deutsche Bank.
The new Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite are Amazon’s first streaming gadgets to offer a redesigned home screen that makes it easier to find stuff to watch and to quickly jump into live TV.
The new software supports up to six user profiles. People can create profiles for children that will only show kid-friendly content that their parents can approve. Previously, people would have to switch profiles inside each app, like Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) or Hulu, to see content recommended for them inside those specific apps.
Amazon also announced that it is expanding its Alexa voice assistant on Fire TV. Amazon says there are billions of requests to Alexa and that it has seen an 80% growth in requests on Fire TV over the past year. The Fire TV Stick and Fire TV Stick Lite cost $39.99 and $29.99 respectively.
