Watch out QVC, because the largest online retailer is moving into TV based shopping. Amazon is adding the ability to shop their massive selection of products using the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick. Anyone familiar with Amazon probably saw this coming, but now it’s finally being added to Fire TV devices via the new software update that is currently being deployed, and yes, you will be able to shop using voice search. A trusted source at Amazon, who wishes to remain anonymous, told me about the new feature months ago and I have been able to confirm its presence in the latest software update by decompiling and examining the source code. Also included in the new update, which is a necessity to effectively shop Amazon’s massive product selection, is the addition of filtering and sorting options to the Fire TV’s search functionality.

Similar to how the X-Ray feature was covertly added to Fire TV devices a few months ago, the new shopping feature is already included in the Fire TV 51.1.6.0 and Fire TV Stick 54.1.2.0 software update that is currently making its way out to devices. However, you wouldn’t know it, because it is in a dormant state waiting for Amazon to remotely flip the switch that makes it available to customers. This allows Amazon to pre-load Fire TVs with the new feature over time, like they have been doing for a week now, and instantly make it available to everyone simultaneously. The only indication that the new shopping feature has been added is the addition of line “and shop purchases” to the description of the Fire TVs parental control PIN option for purchases.

Amazon is also adding much needed filtering and sorting options to the Fire TV’s voice and text search functionality, which will support the new shopping feature. When searching for products, movies, TV shows, and apps you will now be able to sort results by relevance, best selling, price, and user reviews. For apps, you will also be able to sort by release date. There will also be search filters like the ability to select one of Amazon’s departments when searching products or selecting a controller type, game controller or remote, when searching apps. When viewing a search result, you will be able to press the Fire TV’s MENU button to bring up filtering/sorting options and you can press the REWIND button to clear them.

In addition to filtering/sorting, I’m told you will be able to save searches, but I don’t have any information on how exactly that will work. The new shopping feature may be made available to customers in conjunction with Amazon’s “Prime Day“, coming July 15th, in celebration of the company’s 20th birthday.

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