Amazon launches Alexa - Less Fire TV Stick for international users of its Prime video service
A year after taking the on-demand video platform ‘Prime Video’ to the global market, Amazon has now launched a ‘Basic Edition’ of its popular Fire TV Stick for international users of its video service platform. The company doubled down on the global audience with the new device, which will ship to over 100 countries.
Amazon had earlier unveiled a much-improved third-generation version of Fire TV Stick in September. The update added HD support, which was limited for access only in the United States. This is the issue Amazon wants to take care of with their new dongle for Amazon Prime Video viewers outside the US.
This new ‘Basic Edition’ is a reincarnation of its previous version, which came without Alexa enabled voice commands. As Alexa is out, users will also see that the voice command button will also be missing from the remote control. Although, that is primarily because Alexa products aren’t yet available in many parts of the world. In many cases, you are facing trouble with fire stick won't connect to wifi when you are viewing online on Amazon Prime Video platform.
The International Edition of the device comes with 720p and 1080p up to 60fps video output, Dolby Audio, a 1.3 GHz processor, 1 GB memory and 8 GB of storage for apps and games. While the price of the device is advertised to be as low as $50, it may vary based on the country buyers are in.
In a statement, Amazon Fire TV business vice president, Marc Whitten said, “Last year, we made Amazon Prime Video available to customers globally, and today, we’re building on that momentum as we introduce Fire TV Stick Basic Edition to new customers around the world. This makes streaming content from apps like Prime Video fast and easy and we can’t wait to hear what customers think.”
While it may seem a little rude for the company to charge more for less, as the new model with Alexa voice search is priced at $39.99, this is the first time Fire TV Stick has been available for direct shipping in rest of the world.