AMZN Amazon.com Inc

Amazon Inc. has been reducing the cost of putting its voice assistant Alexa into homes. On Wednesday, the company introduced its second-gen Fire TV Stick, keeping the same $40 price, but including a voice-capable remote that lets owners talk to the artificially intelligent assistant.

By speaking to Alexa, you can not only find something to watch, but also purchase hundreds of items from Amazon's online store, check the weather, get a news update or play a song on Spotify. Amazon says Alexa is currently able to understand 3,000 distinct commands.

The Fire TV Stick offers access to more than 4,000 apps and games, including Netflix, Hulu, HBO, ESPN and Major League Baseball. And its voice-search database can pull up shows from across 90 apps and channels.

The company said the new Fire TV Stick will be faster than its predecessor thanks to a speedier quad-core processor and improved 802.11ac MIMO Wi-Fi.

Amazon is also set to deliver a much-needed Fire TV user-interface redesign. A spokesman said the new experience will prioritize specific shows and movies over apps, and offer more customizability. While it won't be the software that buyers see at launch, Amazon will roll it out in an upgrade later this year, starting with the new Fire TV Stick and the current 4K Fire TV (which also plays host to Alexa).

Just bear in mind that, like its predecessor, the new Fire TV Stick tops out at 1080p HD quality video. So if you're looking to watch 4K video from Amazon Prime or elsewhere, you'll need the larger $100 Fire TV, or another device such as the new Roku Premiere, Premiere+ or Ultra set-top boxes.

While the new Fire TV Stick is the cheapest way to get Alexa, it's not the only low-cost way. A couple of weeks ago, Amazon introduced a second-gen Echo Dot speaker at a price of $50. There is, however, no truly mobile home for Alexa as yet.

That's a stark contrast to Apple, whose Siri voice-controlled assistant is found only in its Macs and iOS devices. These Siri-compatible devices cost hundreds of dollars or more—but they do mean that Siri is close when users are out and about. Google has brought its own AI into the spotlight this year, naming it, generically, the "Google Assistant." People can find it in the Allo messaging app for Android and iOS, as well as on the upcoming Google Home speaker, which resembles Amazon's original Echo.

The first Fire TV Stick, which made its debut in 2014, shipped with a basic remote, though people had the option of doing voice search through a smartphone app or with a separately sold $30 voice remote. And, notably, no Alexa.

The new Fire TV Stick is available for preorder Wednesday, and is slated to ship Oct. 20.

Write to Nathan Olivarez-Giles at Nathan.Olivarez-giles@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 28, 2016 09:25 ET (13:25 GMT)

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