At CES 2020, Amazon said that Fire TV has passed 40 million active users. It also announced that Fire TV is coming to cars and set-top-box from TV operations, in addition to streaming boxes, TVs and soundbars.
Dolby Atmos soundbars with Fire TV
By Amazon's own numbers, Fire TV is now a more popular TV platform than Roku. However, the numbers remain unconfirmed so take Amazon's claims of "more than 40 million active users" with a pinch of salt. What is an "active user", anyway?
- "At CES 2017, we announced the first Fire TV Edition smart TV. Now, just three years later, Fire TV Edition has grown into a worldwide program which will include more than 150 Fire TV Edition models across more than ten countries by the end of the year," said Marc Whitten, Vice President, Fire TV. "Our expanded Fire TV Edition program provides companies with the services and tools they need to bring Fire TV to more categories and more screens."
This year, Amazon will expand its partnerships to bring Fire TV to more soundbars, meaning that you can buy and connect a soundbar to any TV to get Amazon's Fire TV platform with streaming apps and more. Last year, Anker launched a Fire TV-enabled soundbar and this year TCL will launch the Alto 8+ in North America and the TS8011 in parts of Europe.
Roku and Google are also letting manufacturers use RokuOS and Android TV in soundbar.
It is also working to bring new features such as Dolby Atmos, device control, HDMI switching, and far-field voice control to soundbars from Anker, Polk Audio and Tonly.
Here's a little graph that Amazon made - just don't ask about axis.
Fire TV in cars & set-top boxes
Amazon will expand its Fire TV licensing program to cars. The first partners are BMW and Fiat Chrysler. Fire TV in cars will include "hands-free access to Alexa, touch screen interface and offline playback capabilities", said Amazon. Content can also be streamed via WiFi or mobile data.
- "Adding Fire TV to future BMW vehicles represents a big step in bringing the best of streamed entertainment to our products. With Amazon’s approach, and with the help of Garmin, we are able to innovate and create a unique and special experience for BMW cars, providing the consistency of content and customer experience that Fire TV provides in the home. We look forward to working closely with Amazon to bring Fire TV to future vehicles," said Fathi El-Dwaik, VP of user Interaction, Business Line My Car, BMW.
In addition, Amazon will partner with TV and telecom operators to let them build set-top boxes based on the Fire TV platform. The company said that the program is available now to operators in North America, Europe, India, and Japan.
Lastly, Amazon said that it will partner with OEM TV makers such as Vestel, Arcelik, Compal, TPV, and others. Through reference designs for Fire TV, these OEM makers will be able to manufacture Fire TVs for other TV brands.
In 2020, Amazon will continue its international expansion by offering Fire TV across United States, Canada, India, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain and Mexico.
- Source: Amazon
