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Comment by general_failure | Hacker News Reader

This kills Roku.

Roku is dead, long live Roku.

At $99, how is this a Roku killer? At least Roku has Amazon Instant Video.

For a start, roku has an extremely closed app development policy. Have you seen how you develop apps for the Roku? The Player will have it open just like other devices.

On amazon, Roku 3 streaming player costs 90USD. So, it's the same price range. Except that Player will have more apps in no time.

(And from a developer perspective, Roku is using a custom language. You read that right, a DSL of their own)

I guess by that metric, the Ouya is a Roku killer too. How many units did Ouya sell?

@freehunter: I cannot reply to you for some reason. but ouya was marketed as a gaming device. Completely different thing compared to how Roku is marketed.

HN is kind of weird with the comments. If you don't see the "reply" button, click "link" then there should be a comment box that will work.

Anyway, no one knows how this will play out, but Roku didn't kill Apple TV, FireTV didn't kill either, and I wouldn't expect this thing to do much damage in the very crowded market either, all things considered. Brand name doesn't mean that much these days, as Microsoft and Blackberry can tell you. What matters is how cool it is and how quick the adoption and lock-in is. Lots of people already have smart TVs, gaming consoles, or Apple TV/Roku devices.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.amazon.avo...

No, it doesnt.

It's targeting the same market-segment with a similarly priced device, which will have much better app-support on a living platform which is in active development.

It may even work outside the US without setting up a bunch of proxies and hacking your router! Yay!

And it can play games too, which I guess is a deal to some people.

But the Roku has wired ethernet and this has not, so for now my Roku not going anywhere.

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