There have been hints that Amazon is working on launching the Fire TV and their appstore in India for several months. Now it looks like third-party services are getting involved, which usually means the launch is right around the corner. A pair of new apps, Voot and Voot Kids, which are streaming services in India, were just added to the appstore with support for the Fire TV. The red flag is that these Fire TV apps are geographically orphaned, which means they are not available for download in any of the 4 countries where the Fire TV is currently sold.
Just before Amazon announced that the Fire TV was being made available in Germany, several new German media apps popped up in the appstore with Fire TV compatibility. The same appears to be happening right now with new Indian media apps.
Shortly after Amazon Prime launched in India last year, I discovered that Amazon’s India site already had amazon.in/firetv redirecting to a disabled product page. The redirect was quickly removed, but it was very telling evidence of the Fire TV’s impending arrival in India.
Now that Indian streaming services are starting to release Fire TV apps, the stage is being set for the device’s arrival. Amazon India does not have its own Amazon Appstore, and instead directs customers to use amazon.com, so I expect a native Amazon Appstore for India to launch alongside the Fire TV in India in the coming weeks.
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Hello I pre-ordered the new Fire Stick from amazon.de, but plan to use it in Bulgaria, where HBOGO, Netflix, PrimeVideo and Spotify are already available through other platforms (Android/iOS). This post makes me think that I won’t be able to install those apps on the Fire Stick. Could someone advise if the device will even function in a country where it is not officially launched and what are the limitations?
Even if you are able to get the apps, the content is usually geo-locked based on your IP which is why you will see people discussing the use of VPNs.
I’m not concerned for the content. As I said the apps are already available here (on other platforms) with corresponding content for my location. But would I be able to get the apps at all?
A VPN will only get you so far… For most of the major Broadcasters will almost certainly require you to use some form of pre-registered user:pass that came from the local Cable Co. Without which no VPN would allow you to view their content. In the case of proper cable channels, this WILL be the norm. If you were to take something like CBS All Access for example. Well they want to be paid in US Currency from a US Bank. I gather you were once upon a time able to use a pre-pay Credit Card, alas they put a stop to that.
The only things that ~work~ over VPN for me are the BBC iPlayer (UK), Pluto.TV (UK & US), and Crackle (US). Allthough you would need a US PlayStore Account to grab it the CBSNews Livestream App itself not Geolocked.