Developers will want to build for microsoft because they will be innovating in every dimension. Speaking at the microsoft build conference, they now have a challenger mindset. We will have more on that later on in the show. Alibaba is investing in lyft intruding to this round of funding. This comes to the weeks after they invested in and another u. S. Company. Theyre trying to build up their u. S. Profile ahead of an ipo in the united states. Blackberry will stop selling its phones in tmobile stores when the contract ends. The ceo says, our strategies are not complementary. He criticized tmobile for encouraging customers to switch to the iphone. First to our lead story, a special show about amazons big unveiling of the fire tv. They had to get the word fire and there. This is significant. I hate covering product announcements but i really feel like this is an interesting position for amazon to be in because they are using hardware to get with their software has not been able to get. It is a small black box that streams movie, tv, wifi. It is 99 and starts shipping today. Listen to what peter larson, the Vice President of amazon kindle, had to say about what he can do. What can you watch on fire tv . It has a ton of content from zulu plus, watch espn, showtime, majorly baseball, nba, the disney channels, bloomberg tv, youtube. Its the easiest place to watch netflix. You hear that . You can get bloomberg west on fire tv. Edmund, i understand you got your hands on the device. What did it feel like . Tell us. It felt like plastic. Wow. Its exciting. The most remarkable thing is that it is pretty small. Its even smaller than the apple tv device. It is similarly proportioned but just smaller. Instead of white, its black. It has a lot of ports on the back of it. The hardware, the physical properties, matter less than what you get with it. The interface, what you have access to. Bloomberg tv, for one. As they showed on the demonstration. Also, the other thing to know is if you do not have a prime subscription, there is less for you to watch. Even though its 99, you have to fork out another 99 or year to get the prime subscription to have access to the streaming shows they have on their. It has been described as a thick coaster. One thing peter larson pointed out is that it has three times the power and performance of 70 competitors. Take a listen to what he had to say about that. This thing really screams. I cant wait for you to try it out. Fire tv has three times the performance and power of apple tv, roku 3, chromecast. This is a powerful device. What does that actually mean . People were tweeting from the event. Three times faster than apple tv tweeting from the event. I dont know how to quantify it. I think what you is trying to go for is that it is probably faster. There is probably less delay on how content is streamed to you and a faster processor. All of those things do count but three times as powerful as hard to pin down so that was a bit vague. To what degree does this help amazon get around other barriers, prime video in the hands of consumers . Prime video but the other thing is that they are really trying to own the living room in terms of what consumers are buying with media. Apple tv was an important thing because a lot of movie downloads dvd sales have declined because of downloads. Now if this box, they can sell even more because it is that much more seamless, friction free for consumers to have a whole season going to their tv set which is really where they want to watch it anyway. They are battling for that ecosystem. They are still a retailer at heart. They just want to sell more stuff. Its on sale starting today for 99. Admittedly, thank you for covering that event for us in new york. Now to the question of how the streaming hardware will really change amazons business model, a company with historically low margins. Joining us in studio, someone who worked on building the product and also senior west coast correspondent jon erlichman. Jeff bezos was not there today. What does that mean . Increasingly hes not on the front of these. He may be running the company but he does not fit his face out there for product announcements. Kindle fire hd. I think this says this is an extension of what they are already doing. Did amazon have to come out with an amazing amount of bells and whistles . They were pushing the idea of voice search today. I can say John Malkovich and i will be able to find movies and tv. Amazon is already well positioned in the living room because of what theyve been doing with video to take the next step that they took today is kind of an obvious one. Through amazon. Com, they sell so many of these boxes that are not their round. Maybe thats the message of jeff basis not being there. What was a process like working on this box . The thing that struck us the most is the team that has been working on it from amazon was very open, very quick to support to add to this device. This is the one thing that stands out is that there is a focus on the basics. You hit play and it looks good. It goes back to the comments earlier about performance and why this really matters. Screens are bigger. Hd, super hd, 1080 p, youre going to need more Processing Power on the device in order to make the videos look good and you need faster connections to make it all work better. A number of things focused on that we really appreciate. This is one where its increasingly hard to differentiate. You have to have netflix and hulu. They have both of those services now. But those three things together with amazon prime from an ondemand perspective than they have a great lineup. Now you switch to think about live content and linear content coming via the digital delivery mechanism and that is just starting to come together regardless of sports one of our partners is the acc, the college conference. I think these are just starting to come whether it is this device, apple tv or any other. Were just starting to see linear content. We should not leave out games. And a game controller. They have this game that was built from scratch specifically for this box and then you can buy a game controller if you want to. I think the power commentary is partially on that as a differentiator. When it comes to understanding entertainment technology, we have three real strong categories with very different approaches. The thing that steve jobs talked about but when it comes to understanding entertainment in technology we have three approaches, game consoles, sony, microsoft. You have streaming devices with google and roku. Then you have the smart tvs from others and those seem to be from three different camps i wonder if one will emerge. Does this help you get around the issues raised by a comcast time warner merger where you will have someone decide what service you get fast and what you dont. Its a great question. The first part is that i do think it is true that game consoles clearly survey slightly different audience than a streaming player or a smart tv. It is someone whose primary purpose for purchasing the device is a game or playing games. The prices higher. You do not see a 100 console. Video is important but its an adjunct to the gaming experience. Take a streaming player and video is the first thing that people are looking to. The audience, the demographic, theyre looking to either pull back on cable subscription or augment service with Ondemand Services and its a slightly different market going out and buying these products and the price ranges from 35 to chromecast to 99 for amazon fire. They are all coming together. I dont know if we even need to distinguish between the groups because everyone is doing a bit. Except for apple which is still a closed ecosystem and they made it clear that they were pointing it out that this thing is built on android. Rajeev raman, thank you for joining us today on bloomberg west. Fans of the xfiles will soon be able to watch more from creator chris carter but they will not be doing it on fox. His new show, the actors, is an amazon original. The writer and director joins us next. Im emily chang and this is bloomberg west on your television, bloomberg. Com, apple tv, and fire tv as well. We have been talking about the amazon fire tv announcement earlier this week they greenlight six new series providing original content for their streaming service, amazon prime. One show is the after written one show is the after written by chris carter, the creator of the xfiles who joins us as some of the prime time coverage. You took a hiatus for 10 years. Why come for an amazon original . I had written something years ago that i was excited about and it took me two years to bring it to the screen and amazon was the first who read it and loved it. Thats why im in business. Did you shop it elsewhere . Amazon responded immediately but the process has been a lengthy one. Its jon erlichman. Lets talk about this idea of having pilots. Amazon has been very public. Heres a show we are putting out for the public to watch and they are very public saying we got this feedback and now we will go ahead. As a creator, at a time and you have players like netflix that are reeling from the get go to do these very big deals, should we assume that the approach of amazon in picking the shows is quite different than what netflix is doing . This is the first time ive ever experienced this. I will call it the gladiator approach which is really putting it out to the audience and they give it a thumbsup or thumbs down. It is the wisdom of the crowd but i like the approach. We should highlight that while you are very much going down the amazon road, its not the only one you are on right now. Youre are working with amc as well. What would you say the primary difference between working with a player like amazon and one of the very well known table channels are broadcast networks that we know . Its not very different at all. Different personnel and players that the approach is always the same, to do something original, something smart and that is really how i approach my job and how everyone else approaches it to. How does the ability to binge watch change the way that you write or direct day show . This is my First Experience doing it like this, giving the opportunity to binge watch and im not sure if amazon will put the show out there in exactly the way that you could binge watch. We have not really talked about that approach yet. For me, this is my first chance to work off a broadcast network. Im really looking forward to that for other reasons including less restriction on what i can say and show. Cris carter, we will talk to you a little bit more about what the after is after this quick commercial break. Chris carter, creator of the xfiles making a new show for a new show for amazon. Welcome back to bloomberg west. We are talking with writerdirector chris carter, creator of the xfiles. His new show for amazon is called the after. Chris, what is the after all about . People ask me this question it owes a lot to the xfiles. It is Science Fiction but it is its own original idea about a catastrophe that begins in los angeles and it is a big mystery what has happened. Jon erlichman again. If people are watching it through this new fire tv device, for example, do you think that when you are creating the story line, do you think about how people are viewing it, a small screen, does that change the nature of the story line, special effects, everything . Its the same approach. I was mindful when i was choosing an aspect ratio for the size of the picture that most people would be watching it on a smaller screen and i imagine the ipad, for example as a place where i watch my streaming content. That is what i imagine, but for me, the images have to be great no matter what the size of the picture and where people watch it. Amazon has not given the public much information about their audience. I wonder if theyve given more information to you. They have been at this original content thing for little bit of time and not many can name a single amazon original show. They have not had nearly the success of the house of cards. Does that worry you . How do you approach that . It does not worry me. They are brandnew to the business and we are in the frontier here. I think the approach is really good. I dont know anything about the audience but thats ok. My job is the same, to create Great Entertainment and im happy to have a great patron like amazon. Really quickly, i have to ask you an xfiles question. Weve talked about the possibility of another movie and you said it was in the hands of fox. Will there be another movie . I dont know. It really is in the hands. Everyone is game and would love to do it and to continue the mythology of the show. What is your favorite show on tv or streaming right now . Thats hard because there is so much great stuff. I love house of cards. I love breaking bad. Its a great show. I love mad men. There has been some Great Television starting with the sopranos. So much good that has been on cable and now streaming. Do you have a preference between a set top boxes out there, apple tv, chromecast, apple fire, roku . As long as anyone can get what i do, however they get it, if there is more opportunity, great for me. Ex cris carter, writer and director of amazon original the after. We cannot wait to see it. Thanks so much for joining us here today on the special edition of bloomberg west. Amazon is taking on amazon and netflix and apple. You are watching bloomberg west where a focus on technology and the future of business. Amazon launched its new fire tv bringing them into even closer competition with the likes of apple and google. All three the tech giants now offer internet connected gadgets for streaming video to a tv. The move also escalates its rivalry with netflix and other services delivering exclusive content. The big question is who will win the battle for your living room . Joining us now is brad stone and the author of the book on amazon and our senior west coast correspondent jon erlichman. I know you have been working on this story for weeks if not months. What do you think now you have seen it officially unveiled . They have been thinking about a set top box since the end of 2011 so this has been a long journey. What are the big ideas going to be . How will it raise the bar on apple, roku, tivo . There are a few mediumsized ideas with voice search. Thats nice. Theres the casual games bringing the men from the amazon app store. People want to play mine craft on their bigscreen tv when they can play on their tablet . No big ideas, no interactive advertising. Maybe that is coming but in version one they dont have it. One thing they are playing on is search. Take a listen to this commercial with gary busey. Im gary busey. Find gary busey. This new amazon fire tv listens to me and is exactly what i say. Gary busey. Yay amazon fire tv. [laughter] it seems so simple but is this a big deal or is it do people really want to search do people really want to search . Sometimes you have to go through the keyboard alphabets and do it. We will see how it handles. Microsoft is announcing voice capability for search and navigation at the microsoft builder conference and you start to see all of these companies coming together with the same types of stuff. Im sort of curious about the game thing. You get the sense that the games were an afterthought . One way that they can distinguish this product. The app store does not have a great selection of games. They have tailored android. It does not have the google play store. They are just creating their own. They have built a studio and have acquired Double Helix Games and introduced with some of the unique games will be for the settop box. Hardcore gamers want to play hardcore games. I want to play bioshock, not mine craft. You can put all of the great businesses together whether it is gaming or imdb where you find out everything about actors in the entertainment business these days. Jeff bezos made a big push on the idea that when you are watching elves, more interaction or finding out who the actor is and they seem to be pushing that again. I dont know necessarily of people you are using those services in a big way. Jeff bezos was not there today. What do you think that says . He is still involved in lab 126 and the hardware product. They present these things to him every month. It was not even the head of the kindle division but it was the larson. This is a version one and a longterm bet. Its not getting the kind of attention that the kindle fire in the kindle ereaders have gotten with holiday launches. What about the apple closed ecosystem versus the android . What kind of a difference does that make . Take a player like netflix. What they are able to do to is change the experience if youre using netflix on a roku device. Kids want to watch kids content and you can see these big, nice pieces of art going through, there are limitations if you are using netflix through apple. I think that is kind of an interesting differentiator between apple tv and say roku, Google Chromecast. Are the content creators changing their focus from whatever they might have been trying to develop for cable or the networks into thinking about selling shows to people who will pay a lot of money, hbo, showtime, netflix, amazon . Showtime is part of the announcement and its really important for them if they can work out the deals, hbo was not part of the deal today. Maybe there is something we dont know about but they will be on these different platforms. They dont want to make their cable friends angry because they get paid a lot of money to put their content there but they also dont want to get left in the dust. People are using these new devices in a big way they want to make sure they have it out there. It is balancing it all out. When you look at the battle for the living room, is it an equal Playing Field right now . Is someone more threatening than someone else . Comcast, directv. The name of the game is still alive, linear programming. Americans watch five hours of this stuff today and these Technology Companies have been hitting their heads against the wall because customers are not really cutting the cord in huge numbers and programmer still love to bundle their channels together to still them. It still the oscars, baseball, football. Until they can write a huge check and starts unbundle some of these networks, these are nice addons. The amazon settop box will be on top of the big comcast settop box. The ceo of roku what happened when Google Chrome cast launch, they went up more because now people know what it is. One of the advantages, they have all of the customer reviews of the settop boxes and the best reviews by far are for the chromecast. All of a sudden there are new devices and people hear when they are all about. They like them. They are not that much money. 100, 35. More consumers start to learn about these so its kind of been a nobrainer that the market is growing. Like i wonder what it also means for the quality of content. It is something of a golden