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Roku has long been an adept at staying above the fray in platform wars. For example, it was the only third-party video device to support Prime Video when Amazon launched its own Fire TV. With today’s announcement that it now supports Apple HomeKit (and therefore Siri), in addition to Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, your players will now be able to be controlled by all the major voice agents. But while he has steered clear of alienating the industry giants, he has nonetheless been mounting an offensive, one that is now clear in his quest to capture home theater.
It all started innocently enough with the launch of the Roku wireless speakers. These were compatible only with TVs that had Roku software built in, which the company claims now powers 1 in 3 smart TVs sold in the U.S. (The ratio has risen since I first wrote about speakers in 2018) . It expanded to soundbars last year with the Roku smart soundbar, which integrates a Roku player that can work with the company’s wireless subwoofer, as well as speakers that were previously limited to Roku TVs. And now the company has announced the Roku Streambar, a barely 14-inch device that nevertheless includes two forward-facing and two side-facing speakers. At $ 129, Roku is so confident in the Christmas gift potential of the mini soundbar that the company notes that the device will fit on a sock.
While Roku’s audio advancements have been fueled by the acquisition of Danish audio company Dynastrom three years ago, it may have its eye on multi-room audio, a market the company addressed with players. tube-like network audio before launching its first video devices. That would pit it even more directly against Sonos, which, following Google’s acquisition of Fitbit last year, is one of the only other independent consumer device companies to go public in the last five years.
Sonos, of course, aims for a more affluent pair of ears. While Roku’s smart soundbar retails for around $ 200, half the price of Sonos’ relatively inexpensive Beam, in contrast, Sonos’s Dolby Atmos-equipped Arc soundbar, equipped with 11 audio drivers, It sells for $ 800. A 45-inch audio tour de force won’t fit in a stocking. However, it can be used to play audio from the Roku channel, the company’s ad-supported video aggregation playback, which will soon be released from its exclusive Roku residency and will launch as a standalone app for iOS and Android.
But Roku hasn’t forgotten its standalone audio players either. The company will round out its lineup with a $ 100 low-profile Ultra player that it says has been redesigned from the ground up and includes features like Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, support for the high-efficiency AV1 codec, Bluetooth (although the remote control still uses the old RF standard), wired Ethernet, and a USB 3.0 connector for fast local retrieval and playback of all those digitized VHS tapes in your library. However, much of its player portfolio remains in the HDMI stick form factor where, in addition to competition from Amazon’s FireTV Stick devices announced last week, the company will compete against Google TV-based TiVo Stream and the rumored Chromecast with Google. TELEVISION.
As more of Roku’s business has shifted to a licensing model, buyers of its independent players may have had legitimate concerns about how much attention it would continue to pay to its low-cost retail devices. For the moment, though, it’s not just moving forward, it’s expanding its lineup and reach within the home and, with the Roku Channel app, beyond.
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