Amazon Fire TV Adds Internet Surfing With Firefox And Silk Web Browsers
Amazon has announced that users of the Fire TV devices can now surf the web on their TVs thanks to the addition of Firefox and Silk web browsers. The move is yet another way to give Fire TV users access to YouTube while Amazon and Google are still fighting it out in public. The YouTube app was pulled from the Fire TV and Echo Show, then returned, and then was pulled again. Amazon is said to be considering its own YouTube rival in the wake of the spat.
Along with giving access to YouTube -- something that Amazon deftly avoids mentioning in its press release about the feature -- users will also be able to access other sites like Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo, and Reddit. All Amazon says about gaining access to YouTube via the web from the Fire TV is that owners will be able to access "video sharing sites" and other content.
"With full web browsers on Fire TV, our customers’ entertainment and information options are greatly expanded. We want to make it easy for customers to access the Web from the comfort of their couch," said Marc Whitten, vice president, Amazon Fire TV
Amazon Silk was optimized for the Fire TV with a "true television viewing" experience enjoyed from the couch. Silk will allow fans to discover websites, launch bookmarks for the curated home screen, use the Fire TV remote buttons to navigate pages, and search for web content with the Fire TV remote. Presumably, the same functionality with the remote is available via Firefox as well.
"Bringing Firefox to Fire TV is an exciting new way to reach our users and serve up more of the full web to everyone," said Mark Mayo, Sr. Vice President of Firefox. "Firefox has always been about bringing the web directly to people no matter what device they’re using. Starting today, we will be able to expand the already great Fire TV experience by enabling viewers to surface a multitude of web content -- including videos -- through Firefox."
