Amazon has done it again. The company seems to be making a pattern of disrupting markets. This time the disruption comes in the format of Amazon Fire TV.
Joining Roku 3, Apple TV, and Google Chromecast, this new little black box has entered the streaming market at a competitive $99. Like the others, it plugs into HDTV and offers a broad range of content and apps for consumers to watch movies and TV, as well as play games.
It's the differentiators, however, that seems to be what will disrupt the external box, streaming market. When Kindle Fire hit the tablet market, its price point was one of its largest selling points. The tablet measured up against the likes of iPad, but its software was glunkier than the iPad and the experience wasn't as smooth. The lower price point helped send, what many thought was inferior to the iPad, on to success.
This time, Amazon Fire TV has the price point, but I think it is the technology that will give the competition a run for its money. So far, it is the only quad core processor on the market. In other words, it has double the speed processor and the rest don't.
Added features include voice search, movie and TV episode prediction that is ready to stream instantly without buffering, and a separate game controller reminiscent of the original Microsoft Xbox controller design.
The success of Amazon Fire TV remains to be seen, but the company isn't stopping there. The next market they are gunning for is smart phones. According to the company, there are plans to reveal smart phone hardware this fall. The question is, where will the company disrupt next?