(NASDAQ:AMZN)—With today’s launch of Amazon Fire TV, Amazon is opening
up a new platform for developers to increase their reach and
monetization in the living room. Amazon is releasing new developer tools
today that allow developers to quickly and easily optimize PC, console
or Android mobile apps and games for the new Fire TV. The new tools
include sample code, as well as documentation and guidelines to help
developers design and build living room experiences, including how to
manage the input for the Fire game controller and Fire TV remote. To
learn more or download the new tools, visit https://developer.amazon.com/appsandservices/.
“Developers are already finding monetization success with the apps they
offer for Kindle Fire and in the Amazon Appstore. Fire TV is the newest
reason for developers to bring their apps and games to the Amazon
platform,” said Mike George, Vice President, Amazon Appstore and Games.
“Fire TV is an opportunity for a broad group of developers—whether it’s
existing Android developers or those focused on console, or PC
development—to reach into the living room and engage a whole new set of
customers who love entertainment. We already have many great developers
on board like 2K, AOL, Bloomberg, Clear Channel, Disney, EA, ESPN,
Gameloft, Hulu, Mojang, Pandora, SEGA, SHOWTIME, Telltale, Ubisoft, and
Vevo—and with today’s announcement we expect many more to join.”
Fire TV supports second screen experiences using DIAL, an open standard
that allows customers to discover and open apps on their television
right from their tablet or phone. Extending apps to two screens gives
developers the ability to take their games to the next level—creating
truly immersive gaming experiences for customers through multi-player
functionality. Existing Android developers will find developing for Fire
TV is very familiar and will simply need to integrate with the new
controllers to port their app to Fire TV. And, because the new Fire TV
developer tools are available alongside the Mobile App SDK, existing
Amazon APIs such as In-App Purchasing, Login with Amazon, and GameCircle
are available for Fire TV and work the same way they do on other Fire OS
devices.
With the launch of Fire TV, developers can receive 500,000 Amazon Coins
through the Appstore Developer Select Program and create campaigns where
customers earn those Coins when they purchase apps and games. This is in
addition to the regular Appstore Developer Select benefits that include
500,000 mobile ad impressions, enhanced merchandising, AWS credits, and
additional Amazon Coins incentives. More details on the Appstore
Developer Select program can be found at http://developer.amazon.com/select.
Thousands of apps and games from developers including, 2K, AOL, Amazon
Game Studios, Clear Channel, Disney, EA, ESPN, Gameloft, Hulu, Mojang,
SEGA, Telltale, and Ubisoft will be available on Fire TV. Developers
have already been impressed with the ease of development and how quickly
their games can be ported to Fire TV. Here is what some developers
who’ve been working with Fire TV have to say:
“We are really excited to be developing Endless Skater for Fire
TV, a platform that is so accessible to indie developers,” said Steve
Ganem, CEO of SuperVillain Studios. “From day one, it was
extremely easy to adapt our Kindle games for Fire TV and to work with
Amazon. The Endless Skater experience feels right at home on an
HDTV, and is so excellent with Fire game controller.”
“Fire TV is an innovative new platform that provides us the ability to
bring a truly immersive gaming experience to the consumer’s living
room,” said Baudouin Corman, VP of Publishing for the Americas,
Gameloft. “Customers can expect to see popular Gameloft titles, such as Asphalt
8: Airborne, Modern Combat 4: Zero Hour, and Despicable
Me: Minion Rush, optimized for Fire TV at launch.”
“Porting to Fire TV from our existing Android version was quick and the
support from Amazon was excellent,” said Johannes Vuorinen, CEO of
Frogmind. “Combined with how good BADLAND looks from a large HDTV
made the decision to port to the Fire TV platform an easy one.”
“Fire TV offers our viewers another way to align their content
preferences with their viewing habits, and will provide a premium
environment for consumers to experience AOL On,” said Ran Harnevo,
President of Video at AOL. “We believe it will be one of the most
game-changing products on the market, and look forward to giving Amazon
viewers on-demand access to AOL On, HuffPost Live, and our entire video
library.”
“We’re extremely pleased to have SHOWTIME available for Fire TV, and
excited that our subscribers have a great new way to experience SHOWTIME
ANYTIME on their televisions,” said Tom Christie, President,
Distribution, Business Development, and Network Operations, Showtime
Networks Inc. “We think our viewers will love watching current and past
seasons of our award-winning original series including HOMELAND, RAY
DONOVAN and MASTERS OF SEX, along with box office hits,
documentaries, specials and hard-hitting live sports on Fire TV.”
“Creating ubiquity for our authenticated WATCH products adds tremendous
value to the multichannel video subscription, and collaborating with
Amazon to make our networks available on the new Fire TV strengthens
that value,” said Matt Murphy, Senior Vice President of digital
distribution, Disney & ESPN Media Networks. “Today’s launch of WatchESPN
allows early Fire TV adopters to receive live access to sports
programming from ESPN networks on day one. Additionally, in the near
future, they will also find fan-favorite shows and entertainment
programming from our WATCH ABC and Disney authenticated products.”
“Living room viewing now accounts for almost 60% of all content
consumption on Hulu Plus, and our accessibility on Fire TV helps us
realize our goal of helping viewers find and enjoy premium content when
and where they want to, on every device,” said Tim Connolly, Head of
Distribution, Hulu. “We've worked with Amazon to make Hulu Plus
available on all Kindle Fire platforms, and are excited to extend our
relationship even further with the launch of Hulu Plus on Fire TV, which
utilizes our optimized living room interface.”
“iHeartRadio’s launch onto Fire TV is another key step in our pledge to
be everywhere listeners want us to be, whether they are enjoying the
music and radio stations they love in their living rooms or on the go,”
said Brian Lakamp, Clear Channel’s president of digital. “We’re excited
to continue our relationship with Amazon and be able to extend our reach
to even more consumers through Fire TV’s simple and affordable in-home
platform.”
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.
Copyright Business Wire 2014