In a deal that matches two retailing giants, Amazon and Best Buy have struck an exclusive multi-year deal to sell a line of Fire TV Edition smart TVs in the U.S. and Canada.
Starting this summer, Best Buy plans to introduce more than 10 4K and HD Fire TV Edition models from Insignia (Best Buy’s in-house brand) and Toshiba. All will run the built-in Fire TV user interface/streaming platform that also builds in Amazon’s Alexa-powered voice navigation and smart home technology.
The companies said Fire TV Edition smart TVs will be available exclusively in Best Buy stores, at BestBuy.com and, for the first time, via Best Buy as a third-party seller on Amazon.com.
The deal will expand the reach of Amazon’s Fire TV Edition platform for TV makers, augmenting models made by TV making partners that include Westinghouse, Seiki and Element Electronics.
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The Best Buy deal also shores up Fire TV’s positioning against competitors that have built their platforms into smart TVs, including Roku and Android TV, as well as home-grown smart TV platforms from Samsung (Tizen) and LG Electronics (webOS).
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“Amazon and Best Buy have a long history of working together, and today we take our partnership to a new level,” Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. "These Fire Edition smart TVs by Insignia and Toshiba deliver beautiful visuals and all the movies and TV shows you love, with an experience that gets better every day with Alexa. We could not have a better partner in this endeavor.”
Hubert Joly, Best Buy’s chair and CEO, added: “Our goal is to enrich the lives of our customers by offering them the very best products and services, whether they come to us online, visit our stores, or invite us into their homes. Our partnership with Amazon is exciting because we believe Fire TV Edition delivers an incredible user experience and further strengthens the growing connection between home theater, home automation and voice control.”
