Tag: Chromecast

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Amazon Fire TV Stick

Amazon FireTVStick and Remote

Pretty interesting move by Amazon to release Fire TV Stick. It sells for $39.00 and comes with a free 30-day trial of Netflix and Amazon Prime. Existing Amazon Prime customers get $20 off Fire TV Stick.

Amazon is clearly positioning Fire TV Stick against Google Chromecast, which currently sells for under $30 at Amazon and Roku Streaming Stick, which currently sells for $49.00 at Amazon.

It’s all thanks to a dual-core processor with 6x the processing power of Roku Streaming Stick, a dedicated VideoCore4 GPU, and 8 GB of storage—4x that of Chromecast and 32x that of Roku Streaming Stick.

I have Google Chromecast which currently is not connected to any TV. I ordered Amazon Fire TV Stick out of curiosity. I do enjoy Amazon Fire TV, until I stopped using it in favor of Apple TV; blame it on HBO GO and iTunes Home Sharing.

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Amazon.com Honors Chromecast-Netflix Promotion

Amazon Customer Service scores another point. One satisfied customer reports that Amazon.com sent him the Chromecast-Netflix Promotional code even after his order was canceled.

The customer was originally told by that his Chromecast order was not eligible for the Netflix promotional code because it was placed after 5:31 p.m. PST on July 24, 2013. Subsequently the order was canceled after contacting Amazon.com Customer Service and getting no resolutions. The customer citing that at the time the order was placed, Amazon.com and Google promised that the order was eligible for the promotional offer. In addition to that, Google Play stated that orders of Chromecast placed before 1PM PT on 7/25 will receive their promotion code once their order ships; 18 hours and 29 minutes later than Amazon.com cut-off time.

A few days later the customer received an email from Amazon.com:

Dear Amazon.com Customer,

Thank you for your recent Chromecast purchase. Your purchase has qualified you to receive a 3-month Netflix gift code. Your code will be emailed to you 5 days after your Chromecast ships.

Apparently Amazon.com had changed the cut-off time to 5:31 p.m. PST on July 25, 2013; 24 hours later than its original cut-off time.

The customer contacted Amazon.com Customer Service asking if his order could be re-instated; Amazon.com replied:

Unfortunately, we don’t have any more stock of ‘Google Chromecast HDMI Streaming Media Player’ right now, and we’re not sure when we’ll be able to get more.

Despite all of that, the customer also received an email from Amazon.com that said:

Hello,

As your order is eligible for this promotion, here is Netflix promotional code: XXXXXXXXXXXX

Follow the instructions below to redeem your code:
1) Go to netflix.com/chromecast.
2) Enter the Netflix code from your email and click ‘Continue’.
3) If you are a new member, you will be asked to create a Netflix account. No billing information is required.
4) If you are an existing Netflix member, login into your Netflix account and your subscription will be credited for 3 month’s worth of streaming services.

Yes, Amazon.com gave the customer the Netflix promotional code even though they could not fulfill the order. Anecdotal story like this really shows how much Amazon.com cares about their customers.

If only I had ordered a Chromecast from Amazon.com.

By the way, Google is to blame for botching the Chromecast launch.

Amazon Honors Chromecast Netflix Promotion

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Amazon changed Chromecast-Netflix Promotion Cut-off Time

Amazon now says that customer who purchased Google Chromecast before 5:30 p.m. on July 25, 2013 are eligible for the Netflix Promotion.

Amazon-Chromecast-Google-Blunder-Update

Initially Amazon said:

Netflix Promotion No Longer Available
Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended. Customers who ordered their Chromecast prior to 5:31 PM PST on July 24, 2013 will receive a Netflix gift code via email within 5 days of their product’s ship date.

Initially Amazon customers who purchased Google Chromecast after 5:31 p.m. on July 24, 2013 were told that they were not eligible for the Netflix Promotion. Disappointed Amazon customers were reportedly cancelled their orders citing that the Netflix Promotion influenced their decision in purchasing Google Chromecast.

Amazon is reportedly sending emails to customers who already cancelled their Chromecast orders that they qualified to receive the Netflix promotion.

Amazon-Chromecast-Netflix-Update

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Google Abruptly Ends Chromecast-Netflix Promo

Chromecast-no-Netflix-Promo

UPDATE:

From Chromecast page at Google Play:

Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended. Orders placed before 1PM PST on 7/25 will receive their promotion code once their order ships.

Does anyone remember what Google Play said before regarding the Netflix Promo? Did it say “limited”?

From Amazon.com:

Netflix Promotion No Longer Available
Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended. Customers who ordered their Chromecast prior to 5:31 PM PST on July 24, 2013 will receive a Netflix gift code via email within 5 days of their product’s ship date.

Why do Amazon.com and Google have different cut-off time?

How many customers bought Chromecast because of the Netflix deal?
I certainly am one of them.

Another question regarding this shortlived Chromecast-Netflix promotion:
Is it Google who fronted all the bills for the promotion, Netflix or both?

My guess is that Google is the one paying Netflix for the Promotion and was surprised with the amount of orders. If only Google would release the sales figure of Chromecast from before and after the Netflix promo ended.

——-

From Google Chromecast Offer page:

Please note that the Netflix promotional offer (which was available in limited supply) has now ended.

Google-terminates-Chromecast-Netflix-Promo

Los Angeles Times reports:

[Update 4:30 p.m. July 25: Google clarified that users who purchased Chromecast before the promotion ran out will still be able to redeem their Netflix promotion code for three free months of the video streaming service.]

Does that include all users who purchased Chromecast but were put on back-orders on Thursday July 24, 2013? Amazon was still taking orders on late Thursday and wouldn’t be shipping the unit to customers until later date.

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Google Chromecast

chromecast

New product from Google:

Introducing Chromecast
To help make it easy to bring your favorite online entertainment to the biggest screen in your house—the TV—we’re introducing Chromecast. Chromecast is a small and affordable ($35) device that you simply plug in to your high-definition (HD) TV and it allows you to use your phone, tablet or laptop to “cast” online content to your TV screen. It works with Netflix, YouTube, Google Play Movies & TV, and Google Play Music, with more apps like Pandora coming soon. With Chromecast, we wanted to create an easy solution that works for everyone, for every TV in the house.

From the faded fine-print:

Subscriptions may be required to use with certain content providers. Chromecast is compatible with WiFi-enabled Android 2.3+ smartphones and tablets; iOS 6.0+ iPhones, iPads, and iPods; Chrome for Mac® and Chrome for Windows®; and Chromebook Pixel. Power cord required (not shown).

It seems that Chromecast does not work on its own and requires other device such as Android and iOS devices as the remote; even though Google says “Remote-free”.

Remote-free
Once your Chromecast is set up, you can use your phone, tablet or laptop to browse and cast content to your TV, play and pause, control the volume, and more. But unlike other streaming solutions, you can still multitask—send emails or surf the web—while enjoying what’s on the TV screen. It works across platforms—Android tablets and smartphones, iPhones, iPads, Chrome for Mac and Windows (more to come), so your personal device is also now your remote control.

Chromecast comes with 3 months of Netflix included when purchased from Google Play, Amazon or Best Buy.

Buy-Chromecast