There’s no proper Amazon storefront as yet for the Fire TV so don’t expect to be able to access the millions of products that you can shop for via Amazon on the web or through its mobile applications. Even though it privileges Prime content, it’s still a good way to watch television.
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Amazon may soon have its own shopping channel A la QVC that also lets you buy things right off the screen, Geekwire reported Wednesday. Well, continuing with that strategy, it’s supposedly getting ready to turn the Fire TV and Fire TV stick into shopping hubs. Users can see new products show up in banner ads on the Fire TV home screen, and clicking those ads takes them to a page where they can browse product photos and customer reviews before making a purchase. Fire TV users also can’t buy physical goods by voice with Amazon’s Alexa virtual assistant, though Amazon’s Echo speaker already offers this feature. But similar to how Amazon subsidizes its e-readers and tablets with Special Offers, e-commerce could be the reason Fire TV prices are so low.
The forthcoming channel is expected to launch next year. But that’s not all: Amazon might also integrate the channel with its X-Ray feature, which uses Amazon’s IMDB subsidiary to serve up information about TV shows or movies.
The upgraded device has been a long time coming – it’s the first significant update to the little black box, which plugs into your TV and allows you to stream programming from the internet to your TV, in five years. With X-Ray, Amazon could display additional details about products onscreen.
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The top banner itself is not new, but until now Amazon has only used it to advertise television content. The shopping element has been in testing for the last two weeks, with a source telling GeekWire that results had far exceeded expectations.
