A few months ago, Amazon made Echo devices available in India for the first time, but as tends to be the case whenever Alexa arrives in a new country, the devices were only available by invitation. Amazon has now removed the invitation requirement, making Echo devices available to everyone. The Amazon Echo (₹9,999 or ~$150), Echo Dot (₹4,499 or ~$70), and Echo Plus (₹14,999 or ~$230) are available, as well as 3rd-party Alexa smart speakers such as the Harman Kardon Allure (₹22,499 or ~$350).
Amazon is continuing their expansion of Alexa and Echo devices to new countries. They announced a couple of days ago that Alexa and Echos were coming to Japan later this year and now have announced that they’re also being made available in India. The Echo devices are available by invite only starting today at an introductory price with a free year of Prime membership included. Read more ›
The Amazon Fire TV Stick has just launched in India, making it the 5th country where a Fire TV device is officially sold. The Fire TV Stick is priced at ₹3,999, which is about $62. Although it comes with a voice remote for basic voice searching, not surprisingly, Alexa is not available in India yet. It took Alexa over a year to make it to the UK and Germany after first appearing on US Fire TV devices. I wouldn’t expect Alexa to take that long to be made available on Fire TVs in India, but the voice assistant is not present at launch. Notably, the Fire TV set-top box is not being made available in India. I see this as a very good sign that a new 3rd-generation Fire TV, in addition to the “AFTN” device I discovered, is in the works. Read more ›
There have been several signs that India will be the 5th country to official see a launch of the Amazon Fire TV and/or Fire TV Stick. Last year I discovered that Amazon’s India site had a placeholder for an upcoming Fire TV page, which was promptly removed once I wrote about it. Then last month I noted an influx of India apps for the Fire TV, which is a sure-fire sign the device’s release in the country was imminent. Thanks to a tip, I’ve now found what I believe to be confirmation that the Fire TV is launching in India. Read more ›
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. Read more ›
I currently have a theory that Amazon will be bringing the Fire TV to India for the first time when Amazon Prime Video launches there later this year. I just came across more evidence that backs up that theory. If you try loading www.amazon.in/firetv, you’ll bring up a 404 error page, but unlike www.amazon.ca/firetv, www.amazon.es/firetv, or any other international Amazon site that doesn’t sell the Fire TV, the Amazon India URL is set to redirect to another page. This means someone at Amazon has deliberately prepared Amazon India’s website for “/firetv” visits. Read more ›
Amazon has launched Prime service in India today, with Prime Video coming soon to the country. If you frequent this site, you may have noticed that I like to look at Amazon’s past actions to try and predict what they’ll do in the future. Last August, Amazon announced that Prime Video would soon be coming to Japan. A few weeks later, Amazon revealed the Fire TV 2, just in time for it to be made available in Japan for the first time, which nicely coincided with the launch of Prime Video in Japan. Now that it’s been revealed that Prime Video is coming soon to India, I expect we’ll see new Fire TV hardware revealed before then, so that the new device(s) can be launched in India as well, in conjunction with Prime Video. Read more ›
Amazon just launched their Prime service in India, making it the 8th country where Amazon Prime is available. The service will normally cost ₹ 999 (about $15) a year, but is currently being discounted at a special introductory price of ₹ 499 (about $7.50) a year. New members will receive a 60-day free trial, double the 30-day trial offered in most countries where Prime is available. Prime membership offers free one-day and two-day delivery, which normally costs ₹ 80-100 (about $1.20-$1.50), to over a hundred cities in India. Members in some areas, including Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Hyderabad, will also receive discounted same-day delivery. To sweeten the deal, Prime members in India will also receive 30-minute early access to lightning deals and other member-only exclusives. Amazon also says Prime Video will be coming to India soon.
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