Amazon Fire TV’s Voice Search Gets New Partners

(NASDAQ: AMZN)—Amazon today announced that Hulu Plus, Crackle, and SHOWTIME ANYTIME are joining VEVO in integrating their full catalogs into Fire TV’s unified voice search.

“We’re excited and energized by the momentum we’re seeing with Fire TV,” said Dave Limp, Vice President, Amazon Devices. “Customers are telling us they love it, developers are building for it, and we’re working hard to expand existing features and build new ones. We’re thrilled to have Hulu Plus, Crackle, and SHOWTIME integrating their full selection of movies and TV shows into Fire TV’s unified voice search.”

The reviews are in:

• “Fire TV’s impressive evolution of the TV-watching experience is a remote control that lets you quickly search a world of Internet video, game and app content with only your voice.” – Wall Street Journal
• “The responsiveness of the box, the voice search, and the no-wait streaming are the best you’ll find out there.” – GeekWire
• “After playing with Amazon's smart interface, competitors are going to need to catch up.” – USA Today
• “What sets Fire TV furthest apart from competing devices is its voice search.” – Associated Press
• “Fire TV's quad-core processor makes for browsing at breakneck speeds. Load times? Haha, what load time?” – Gizmodo
• “Amazon did a terrific job with the design of the Fire TV.” – Mashable
• “I can say this: gaming on the Fire TV is very real, and bears some serious watching.” – CNet
• “The impressive nature of the fluid control was most notable when typing in account information and passwords, and the nearly instantaneous loading of videos and movies from Amazon Prime and Instant Video.” – Consumer Reports
• “Voice search is never not amazing. You almost dare it to mess up, trying the most complicated names you can think of.” – Gizmodo
• “…it’s easy to see why the Fire TV replaces the Roku 3 as my set top box recommendation.” – The Verge
• “Boot-up is a matter of seconds, and content starts playing from Amazon Instant Video within a scant moment of hitting the play button.” – SlashGear
• “Don't underestimate Amazon's inclusion of gaming on Fire TV. It's the real deal.” – The Street
• “The most exciting thing was watching it play a video. And that's not because is spit out beautiful 1080p content (which it did). It's because the device didn't even take a breath before launching into our selection. When Peter Larsen showed off how quickly its ASAP technology allowed the Fire TV to start playing a video on stage we were impressed but skeptical. After spending some time with the Fire TV we feel obligated to apologize for our skepticism.” – Engadget
• “The ASAP video feature really works.” – TIME
• “…it might be the best voice search utility I've ever used – even better than Google Now on Android.” – The Verge
• “I’ve owned high-end Rokus, a Samsung SmartTV, and an Apple TV and have never seen a media streaming player move so quickly.” – TechCrunch

Here’s what customers are saying:

• “This box is a GAME CHANGER for on demand content! Amazon knocked it out of the park.” –William H.
• “Accurate voice search - This one surprised me, It actually worked” – Amadeus K.
• “This thing is fast fast fast. Moving through the UI is instant, effortless, fluid, intuitive and pretty.” – Chris T.
• “The unit handles everything thrown at it and games like Asphalt aren't all that far off from console arcade style racers.” – Mike
• “Wow, I love this thing. Having used a few generations of Roku, 2 Apple TV's and other solutions...I was always left wanting. When I'd first heard rumors of Amazon doing a set top box I got excited, when I saw it was available for sale it took me all of 3 seconds to go ‘yup I'm going to order and pay for local delivery’” – Ryan M.

As with all Amazon products, the team is already working hard to make Fire TV even better:

• Voice search is expanding—Hulu Plus, Crackle, and SHOWTIME ANYTIME will be integrating voice search for their full catalogs starting this summer.
• Selection keeps growing—There’s a big pipeline of great developers working to make their services and games available for Fire TV. New selection is coming from developers like Telltale Games, Halfbrick, Pixowl, Disney Interactive, Minority Media, Paradox Interactive, Gaiam, AllRecipes, and Twitch.

New features are also already in the works for Fire TV, including:

• New Prime browse will make it even easier to discover movies and TV shows that are included in Prime Instant Video.
• Amazon FreeTime and Amazon MP3 integration coming as part of a free, over-the-air software update.
• More Games coming soon. In addition to the over one hundred games available on Fire TV, you will be able to play touch-enabled games with the upcoming Fire TV app for your phone or tablet.

About Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle, opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books; Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home & Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health & Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any type of business. Amazon Fire TV is a tiny box that plugs into your HDTV for easy and instant access to Netflix, Prime Instant Video, Hulu Plus, WatchESPN, SHOWTIME, low-cost video rentals, and much more. Kindle Paperwhite is the world’s best-selling and most advanced e-reader. It features new display technology with higher contrast, the next generation built-in light, a faster processor, the latest touch technology, and exclusive new features designed from the ground up for readers. Kindle, the lightest and smallest Kindle, features improved fonts and faster page turns. The new Kindle Fire HDX features a stunning exclusive 7” or 8.9” HDX display, a quad-core 2.2 GHz processor, 2x more memory, and 11 hours of battery life, as well as exclusive new features of Fire OS 3.0 including X-Ray for Music, Second Screen, Prime Instant Video downloads, and the revolutionary new Mayday button. The all-new Kindle Fire HD includes an HD display, high-performance processor and dual speakers at a breakthrough price.

Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com, www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.de, www.amazon.co.jp, www.amazon.fr, www.amazon.ca, www.amazon.cn, www.amazon.it, www.amazon.es, www.amazon.com.br, www.amazon.in, www.amazon.com.mx, and www.amazon.com.au. As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates otherwise.

Forward-Looking Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to competition, management of growth, new products, services and technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment and data center optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption, inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's financial results is included in Amazon.com's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.