The Kindle Fire is on an Android tablet hot streak. Photo: Wired
The Kindle Fire keeps blazing past other Android tablets. In addition to recent news that it owns more than 50 percent of the Android tablet market, the Fire is now the first Android tablet to get HBO GO.
Just in time for the new season of everyone’s favorite blood-sucking/soft-core porn show True Blood, the Kindle Fire has been accepted into the HBO GO-compatible device club. The app is available now in the Amazon app store and gives HBO subscribers instant access to some 1,400 of the network’s episodes.
In addition to receiving online episode access simultaneous to a show’s appearance over cable or satellite, HBO GO viewers get behind-the-scenes videos, episode re-caps and interviews about HBO shows. It’s a nice bit of therapy for anyone going through Game of Thrones withdrawals.
The Kindle Fire is the first Android tablet to get the HBO GO app. Currently the app is available for Android phones, iPhone, iPad, Roku, Samsung Smart TVs and the Xbox 360. HBO told Wired via email that an Android tablet edition of HBO GO is being developed for select tablets and should launch early this Summer.
Recently, a movement to lobby HBO to offer HBO GO access without the precondition of an HBO subscription has taken root on Twitter. The site Take My Money, HBO gives users a chance to declare via Twitter how much they would be willing to pay for a monthly subscription to HBO GO.
The network hasn’t made an official statement, but sent out a tweet this morning stating, “Love the love for HBO. Keep it up. For now, @RyanLawler @TechCrunch has it right” and points to a TechCrunch article that outlines the problems HBO would face if it went with an online subscription model. The most damning would be the loss of support of cable, satellite and IPTV distributors.
Even without an online subscription service, HBO is creeping onto more and more devices while it controls its own on-demand destiny. While exclusive rights to HBO GO for Android tablets will be short-lived for the Kindle Fire, it can only help to bolster the tablet’s market dominance.
Source: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/06/kindle-fire-is-first-android-tablet-to-get-hbo-go/
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