Amazon.com Inc (AMZN)

[DiscoverGold]

Amazon Unveils New Echo Lineup, Game Streaming Service, More
By: TheStreet | September 24, 2020

• At a hardware event, weeks ahead of its annual Prime Day sales event, Amazon rolled out an array of new products.

Amazon (AMZN) unleashed an array of new products including new Echo models, a game service called Luna, a flying Ring, and many others, three weeks ahead of its Prime Day sales event.

The Seattle tech and online-retail giant rolled out the new offerings, which spanned popular product lines like Fire, Echo and Ring, at a virtual event on Thursday.

Amazon shares closed the regular Thursd session up 0.7% to $3,019.79. At last check after hours they were up another 0.7% near $3,040.

“Amazon is looking to minimize its dependency on third-party hardware providers and continue the company’s trend of bringing the design and production in-house," said Nicholas Grizzell, an analyst at Nucleus Research.

"The goal is to widen profit margins and ensure the hardware is capable of delivering the processing and storage needed for the next generation of capabilities and services from Amazon Web Services.”

Prime Day is kicks off Oct. 13. Here's what Amazon unveiled on Thursday:

Luna

Amazon kicked off the event with a new game-streaming service called Luna, a competitor to Google's (GOOGL) - Get Report Stadia and Microsoft's (MSFT) - Get Report xCloud game streaming service.

Luna is available only by invitation, and when it will launch to the public is unclear. But Amazon said it would feature 100 curated games and be available on Fire TV, Mac (AAPL) - Get Report, PCs, smartphones and tablets.

It will also integrate with Twitch, Amazon's popular social network for gamers, whereby users can launch a game directly within Twitch.

New Echos

Amazon also made a number of updates to Echo, its top-selling home assistants: a new flagship Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, Echo Dot with Clock and Echo Dot Kids edition.

It also showed off a new, revamped Echo Show, at $249, with an improved camera, larger display and "intelligent movement," according to Amazon's senior vice president of hardware, Dave Limp.

The new flagship Echo, at $99.99, comes with a spherical design, as well as upgraded internal processing capabilities and an improved speaker system.

The new $49.99 Echo Dots, $59.99 Echo Dot with Clock, and a $59.99 kids' edition come with the same spherical design. All the new Echos will go on sale this year.

Eero 6

Amazon's Eero Wifi routers will come in two new versions: the Eero 6 and Eero 6 Pro, starting at $129.99 and $229.99 respectively. The new models are compatible with WiFi 6, a new standard aimed at supporting more devices per router.

The Eero 6 will enable a user to connect 75 devices at the same time, while the Pro version affords more coverage distance. Both can be used as a stand-alone router or as a mesh setup.

Always Home Cam

The newest addition to Amazon's Ring lineup, which focuses on home-security cameras and equipment, is a small indoor security camera that flies. Called the Always Home Cam, the $249.99 device is expected to go on sale next year.

The Always Home Cam records only video while it's in flight, and can be programmed to fly to specific locations around the home or to respond to disturbances detected by the Ring Alarm system. It then returns to its charging dock once its mission is completed.

Ring for Cars

Amazon is expanding its Ring security lineup to cars. On Thursday, it unveiled Ring Car Connect, an application programming interface that will enable carmakers to access various Ring Security features. Initially, the system will be compatible with Tesla’s (TSLA) - Get Report Models 3, X, S and Y.

It also unveiled Ring Car Cam ($199.99), a camera system that enables a user to monitor and record break-in attempts, dings, and even pullovers. A companion device, Ring Car Alarm ($59.99 with subscription add-ons), will alert you if it detects any unusual activity.

Fire TV Sticks

Amazon also rolled out two upgrades to its Fire TV Sticks. The cheaper version, the Fire TV Stick Lite, costs $29.99. A $39.99 upgraded Fire TV Stick has an enhanced processor that is purportedly 50% more powerful than the previous model.

Read Full Story »»»

DiscoverGold