Smart TVs Are Still Dumb. Amazon’s Daniel Rausch Sees Fire TV Changing That
Andrew Wallenstein President and Chief Media Analyst A smart TV may be the biggest technological investment you make in your home. Yet it’s not being used approximately 20 hours per day. That strikes Daniel Rausch, VP of entertainment devices and services at Amazon, as an opportunity for the brand he oversees at the tech giant: Fire TV, which allows consumers to stream video to their living-room screen either in the form of small devices that plug into that screen or in the TV set itself, whether manufactured by a partner like Hisense or Amazon. But to take advantage of all that unused screen time, Rausch doesn’t just want the 200 million Fire TV-branded devices and TV sets he’s sold to date worldwide to be the best portal for serving up Netflix or Disney Plus; he believes Fire TV can be the hub for a smart-home experience that does a lot more than just provide access to entertainment.