Last week Amazon released Fire TV, yet another fine streaming media set top box that excels on so many fronts but stumbles when it comes to what consumers want most — easy & accurate universal search — succinctly put: the ability to search across all channels, apps & services for something to watch.
While we’re glad to learn Fire TV’s ‘Siri-like’ voice control helps search along, truth be told, voice control & gesture alone will never vanquish the search limitations inherent in connected TV. Just as the typical search using an onscreen keyboard will keep connected TV from achieving its full entertainment potential. (Disclosure: Kannuu is ecumenical when it comes to search input — so long as the results are lightning fast and completely accurate, and most importantly, consumers are thrilled with the experience!)
As we pointed out in Top Takeaways From #TVConnect London – OTT is King & STBs Reign, the present and future for STBs are bright as consumer appetite for OTT content continues to prove insatiable.
The reviews for Amazon Fire TV are mostly positive. But a recurring critique is how voice control falls short when it comes to universal search.
According to a review on PVRblog, “Amazon Fire TV First Impressions,” “The biggest failing is that end users (that’s us!) don’t get a truly Universal Search.”
And industry guru Colin Dixon on nScreenMedia, cites “No unified search” as reason number 1 in his review, “4 reasons not to buy Amazon’s Fire TV.”
We wish Fire TV and the entire STB industry the very best.
More than this, however, we wish STBs would give consumers what they want and tap the unbridled power, proven performance and ease of use of the Kannuu search and discovery ‘findability’ platform!