Amazon says Fire TV was top streaming device at US retailers, but only before new Apple TV launched
Amazon on Tuesday touted the performance of its first-party product lineup -- particularly the Fire TV, which the retailer said was the best-selling streaming media player in the U.S. across all retailers. But the cited data only covers the months leading up to the debut of the fourth-generation Apple TV.
Amazon Fire TV.
In a press release, Amazon said that from July through October, the Fire TV has been the No. 1 streaming media player in the U.S. across all retailers. October represents the latest month for which data is available, the company said.
The data is also something of a misnomer, however, as the new fourth-generation Apple TV arrived in stores on Oct. 30, giving it just two days of sales before the month concluded. For its part, Apple has not disclosed sales of the new Apple TV either.
Amazon also boasted about the performance of its Fire TV lineup over the Black Friday shopping weekend. According to the online retailer, sales of the Fire TV were up more than six times from the same period a year ago.
The top-selling device on all of Amazon was the Fire set-top box, while the low-end Fire TV Stick came in at No. 2.
Fire TV stick with Voice Remote.
Highlighting Amazon's role in the low-end tablet business, the company also revealed that its $49.99 7-inch Fire tablet is the fastest selling Amazon tablet ever, with "millions" sold since launch. The budget-priced Fire helped to increase tablet sales more than three times that of Black Friday 2014.
Amazon does not disclose specific sales figures of its hardware. The entry-level Fire tablet was actually priced at $35 for Black Friday.
In other vague accomplishments, Amazon also said that it sold "hundreds of thousands" of Kindle e-readers over the weekend, while the voice-driven Amazon Echo was the No. 1 bestseller in its store across all products priced $100-and-up.
"We're excited that millions of customers will be opening new Amazon devices this holiday season. This has already been the biggest holiday shopping season for Amazon devices, and we're energized by the year over year growth for all of our product categories," said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices. "With a sub-$50 price point for one or $250 for a six-pack, we've reached a tipping point with Fire--it is our fastest-selling tablet ever. We've already built millions--and we're ramping up production to build millions more."
Amazon Fire TV.
In a press release, Amazon said that from July through October, the Fire TV has been the No. 1 streaming media player in the U.S. across all retailers. October represents the latest month for which data is available, the company said.
The data is also something of a misnomer, however, as the new fourth-generation Apple TV arrived in stores on Oct. 30, giving it just two days of sales before the month concluded. For its part, Apple has not disclosed sales of the new Apple TV either.
Amazon also boasted about the performance of its Fire TV lineup over the Black Friday shopping weekend. According to the online retailer, sales of the Fire TV were up more than six times from the same period a year ago.
The top-selling device on all of Amazon was the Fire set-top box, while the low-end Fire TV Stick came in at No. 2.
Fire TV stick with Voice Remote.
Highlighting Amazon's role in the low-end tablet business, the company also revealed that its $49.99 7-inch Fire tablet is the fastest selling Amazon tablet ever, with "millions" sold since launch. The budget-priced Fire helped to increase tablet sales more than three times that of Black Friday 2014.
Amazon does not disclose specific sales figures of its hardware. The entry-level Fire tablet was actually priced at $35 for Black Friday.
In other vague accomplishments, Amazon also said that it sold "hundreds of thousands" of Kindle e-readers over the weekend, while the voice-driven Amazon Echo was the No. 1 bestseller in its store across all products priced $100-and-up.
"We're excited that millions of customers will be opening new Amazon devices this holiday season. This has already been the biggest holiday shopping season for Amazon devices, and we're energized by the year over year growth for all of our product categories," said Dave Limp, Senior Vice President, Amazon Devices. "With a sub-$50 price point for one or $250 for a six-pack, we've reached a tipping point with Fire--it is our fastest-selling tablet ever. We've already built millions--and we're ramping up production to build millions more."
Comments
I've got 3 Firesticks.. but just used them as Kodi devices and to access Plex on my older TVs; amazon haven't made an extra penny from me!
Actually, the Amazon Fire device is still first:
-Amazon Fire TV
-Apple TV
-Google Chromecast
-Playstation
-Roku
-XBox
...alphabetically.
How can data be a misnomer? Reach for the dictionary before using clever words.
Amazon did not provide a source for their retail data. In addition, the press release reads: "Amazon Fire TV is the #1 streaming media player in the US across all retailers—sales on Amazon this weekend up more than 6x year over year." These are two separate data points — the No. 1 distinction is July through October, while this weekend's sales are separate. The entire announcement was very vague.
I think Amazon made a big mistake by pushing their own Fire TV for Black Friday and the holiday season. Penny wise and pound foolish because the money for Amazon is in the Prime service and not the device.
They are competing head on with the new Apple TV and they will lose. Target alone sold a ton of the new Apple TV last week and those will likely replace a lot of Fire TVs instead of co-existing. Now that Netflix, Hulu and HBO Now rule on the Apple TV, it will be an uphill battle for Amazon to compete.
A better strategy for Amazon would have been to offer the Apple TV at a deep discount like Target and attach a Prime subscription to the deal. Its good that they are planning to offer an App for the Apple TV in a few weeks but a free trial to Prime may not be good enough to gain a lot of Apple TV customers globally. Amazon actually needs to do this quickly just to keep their current customers from defecting.
I am sure Apple has thought through making Apple TV not only streaming set-top or casual gaming console or Homekit enabled home appliances management device or....but more to come in future.
Hope someday, Apple supports web browser and apps like Apple-Map on Apple TV.
the interface is great. It's super easy to use. And it's got amazon video (the only thing that puts it ahead of apple tv, in my opinion).
The new ATV is $200 here in Cannuckistan. For that price I want a A9X.
After using the apple tv, fire tv, and roku... I gotta be honest, I don't know how Roku isn't blowing them all out of the water. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm a hockey fan and the NHL's streaming options are terrible, I'd be able to dump cable and just use the Roku.
the interface is great. It's super easy to use. And it's got amazon video (the only thing that puts it ahead of apple tv, in my opinion).
Let's see if Roku can maintain their popularity in the coming year.
The weakness in their operating system is clear when compared to the AppleTV.
Even the hardware design of the Roku 4 has fan issues.
After using the apple tv, fire tv, and roku... I gotta be honest, I don't know how Roku isn't blowing them all out of the water. If it wasn't for the fact that I'm a hockey fan and the NHL's streaming options are terrible, I'd be able to dump cable and just use the Roku.
the interface is great. It's super easy to use. And it's got amazon video (the only thing that puts it ahead of apple tv, in my opinion).
I have a number of streaming devices including 3 AppleTV 3's, a AppleTV 4, 2 ROKU 2 XS's, a ROKU 3, a Amazon Fire Stick, and a bunch of game consoles that can stream. I've played with the Amazon Fire Stick a few times, and it's a OK device, but PLEX on it wasn't the greatest. it had issues playing my movies that ROKU worked just fine with.
The ROKU are great devices. Lots and Lots of content. Plus there's hidden channels you can add that are not in the store if you know how to find and add them.
The Apple TV4 is also looking to be a big winner. It's still very NEW. It hasn't built up a App store as large as ROKU yet, but with the Apple Development community, it will greatly surpass ROKU in no time and blow past. You can have Amazon on your Apple TV 3 or 4 now using AirPlay with your iOS device. It's not as nice as built in, but it works and you still have a great picture. Amazon would be foolish now to add support to it. All they have to do now is create the App and getting it in the App store. Much simpler process now. Then that poor excuse of not selling the AppleTV because it confuses customers is no longer valid.
wow... harsh. I just signed up so I could comment.
I'm far from a troll. My product loyalty goes as far as my best option. I use macbooks for work (iOS and Android development) and home. I use a lenovo running win 10 for when I'm doing any web development. I have 2 android phones, a playstation 4 and and xbox one.
I bought the roku a week ago after test driving it, the apple tv, and the fire tv.
Just because I don't agree with you, doesn't make me a troll... It mainly makes you insecure
I didn't know that about the 4. I just got the 2 (only difference between the 2 and 3 is the remote) and have no issues.
The nVidia Shield TV streamer/gaming is the more "powerful" one, more so than any of Amazon's TV sticks/boxes
Except people care even less about the nVidia Shield then anything else!!! I have a bunch of different streaming boxes to play around with and even I just don't care about that one.
yeah, I agree with you about amazon not selling the apple tv and holding back on the app
Especially now that they have some actually good original content. I think they're shooting themselves in the foot by not having it available for apple.
If apple tv gets more of the content I like, I'll absolutely jump from the roku to it. I don't understand product loyalty. for now, roku is best for me