While many who want to stream content to their TVs from their mobile device will be used to "casting" with Google's Chromecast, Amazon has released a tool of its own, allowing users to "fling" content through the Fire TV.
The company has launched the Fling software toolkit, allowing anyone running Android, iOS or FireOS on their smartphone to make photos, videos or music sharable to Amazon's Fire TV set-top box.
"The Amazon Fling SDK is a cross-platform toolkit that enables mobile developers to build rich multi-screen experiences with Amazon Fire TV," said Amazon in a statement. "... With our SDK, you can "fling" media content to Amazon Fire TV and leverage two-way communication between Amazon Fire TV and mobile apps to create engaging second screen experiences."
When a user opens up an app that supports Fling, they will see the Fling icon appear. If they tap on the icon, the content will be sent to the Amazon Fire TV.
Of course, perhaps more interesting is the fact that users may be able to enjoy multi-screen experiences with apps, something that Google is looking to develop further with Chromecast. It will be up to developers to take advantage of this kind of feature, however, it could see, for example, users being able to use their phone as a controller for a game being projected onto the TV.
The Amazon Fire TV already offers a number of great apps, allowing users to watch or listen to content and play games on their TV. It is similar to boxes like the Apple TV and Roku's offerings, and users can access things like Netflix and HBO streaming services through the device.
It could be very beneficial for developers to take advantage of Fling. Developers will not be able to create an entirely new app for Fire TV users, instead simply being able to build Fling support into their existing apps for Android and iOS. Building a whole new app would take time and money, while using existing apps would be a substantially quicker effort.
The release puts Amazon in serious competition with the likes of Apple and Google, not that they weren't already competitors. The battle for the living room is well and truly underway, with tech companies seeing it as one of the next big frontiers to conquer. Amazon has been making waves when it comes to connected home devices of late with the Echo, which was recently made available to the general public.
Via: Cnet
