Today, Amazon announced that we are bringing our fastest-selling Amazon device – Fire TV Stick – to the UK, Germany, and Austria. The Fire TV Stick joins Amazon Fire TV, the #1-selling streaming media box on Amazon in the UK and Germany. Fire TV Stick is also now available in Austria. Fire TV Stick is the most powerful streaming stick available, with a dual-core processor and 1 GB of memory. The device has 4x the storage and 2x the memory of Chromecast plus it’s designed for gaming.

Fire TV Stick is available for pre-order starting today in the UK and Germany—it will start shipping April 15th. Learn more at www.amazon.co.uk/firetvstick and www.amazon.de/firetvstick.

Fire TV Stick delivers easy access to a vast selection of content, including the most popular streaming and catch-up services such as Prime Instant Video, Netflix, BBC iPlayer, BBC News, BBC Sport, ARD Mediathek, ZDF Mediathek, Sky News, Curzon Home Cinema, STV Crossy Road, Hill Climb Racing and Flappy Birds Family and more. The number of video services and games available on Amazon Fire TV in Europe has doubled in just seven months, with more services and games being added every week.

For developers, Amazon Fire TV can help you increase your customer base by putting your Android or HTML5 app or game in the living room, in front of people who enjoy entertainment and may not have seen your apps before. Additionally, developers can use the same development environments that they already use for Android development. Plus, they can write their apps or games in Android Java, or as a web app using the Web App Starter Kit or using one of a number of supported development frameworks (for example: Unity). With this expansion to customers in the UK and Germany, you’ll be able to reach even more customers on Fire TV Stick. 

Here’s what reviewers in the U.S. are saying about Fire TV Stick:

“The streaming TV gadget is faster, with more memory and storage than the competition. It also comes with a remote control, and the app even lets you speak to search for shows.” – CNN Money

“Turn any TV into a smart TV by plugging this tiny device in to your TV's HDMI port to quickly and easily stream content. Consider it the final nail in the coffins of DVDs, CDs, and other plastic bric-a-brac clogging up your entertainment center.” – Entertainment Weekly

“…the interface, speed of the device and its integration with stuff like Amazon Music and Amazon's photo stuff makes it a really compelling offering. In my limited time with the Amazon Streaming Stick, I've found it to be faster than both the Chromecast and the Roku Streaming Stick.” – Mashable 

New Features for Fire TV

After announcements earlier today that Amazon is bringing Fire TV Stick to the UK, Germany and Austria, Amazon has now announced new features for the best-selling Amazon Fire TV —including expandable USB storage, private listening and support for captive portal web authentication to enable use in hotels. These features will be delivered as part of a free, over-the-air software update in the coming weeks. Learn more here.

Recent Fire TV News

• Amazon Fire TV Selection Up 5x Since Launch
• Introducing the Web App Starter Kit
• How to Build Fire TV Controller Support Into Your App Using Unity
• Making Games for the Amazon Appstore (Part 5 of series)
• Amazon Announces New Features for Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick
• Amazon Fire TV Stick Now Available in UK
• Amazon Fire TV Stick Now Available in Germany

Getting Started

Build something new or bring your existing app or game to Fire TV from PC, console, web or mobile. To get started, you can build with Android or use HTML5. 

• Android: Android developers can use existing tools and frameworks including Unity to develop apps and games for the 10-foot experience. Sample code, documentation and guidelines are available to help you make the most of your apps.
• HTML5: HTML5 developers can leverage the Amazon WebView to develop apps and games. Developers have the option to build HTML5 web apps, Cordova apps using the Fire OS port, or hybrid apps. 
• Web App Starter Kit: Get up to speed quickly with the Web App Starter Kit for Fire TV. You can find this project on its Github project page.  

Meet Us in Person

The Fire TV team will be attending and speaking at a number of upcoming events worldwide. Please visit our events page to learn more.

• NABShow, Las Vegas, April 13-16: Stop by and visit Amazon Fire TV in the Amazon Web Services booth at NAB (#SL9016 - South Lower Hall).
• International Games Week Berlin, April 21-26: Experience Fire TV at our gaming area within Quo Vadis. Join evangelist Paul Cutsinger for his talk, "Why is that game more fun than yours? The top 50 deconstructed."
• TV Connect, London, April 29: Technical evangelist Simon Howard will lead a how-to session on building great apps for Fire TV on at 12:10 on April 29^th.
• Streaming Media East, New York, May 12: Join us at Streaming Media East for a session on building media apps for Fire TV with Russell Beattie, Lab126 Technical Evangelist and Justin Webster, Executive Director of Product Development & Operations for The Wall Street Journal Digital Network. The session is titled “How To: Bringing Media Channels to Amazon Fire TV” and will take place on May 12^th from 10:30-11:30 am EST.