I dunno, I like my Nvidia Shield. They know(from talking with them in interviews) that Android TV is a significant threat. Their advantage right now is existing user base and the fact that their stack runs on very cheap HW. As processors become increasingly more powerful at the low end, expect Android TV to make Roku irrelevant(barring another screw up from Google, that is).
Google has been screwing up with Android TV for years. Do you really want an operating system embedded into your TV that has the horrible up date track record of Android?
Besides, the Roku CEO said that they try to keep the build of materials for hardware embedded into TVs below $25. How long will it take Android TV to run on hardware that costs so little?
There's a low end Android TV box on Ali Express for $26 and that was after about a minute of looking. I've had Android in my Shield for 4 years and it's been great. Keeping it maintained is up to the device manufacturer though, so I wouldn't expect that kind of reliability for $26. The market isn't there yet, so Roku has an advantage, but there's a reason why I turned down a job with them last year. There's a limited time where they will be viable. They're competing against some of the biggest companies on the planet. I have friends there and wish them luck, but I wouldn't go long on their stock.
Apple is never going to make a $30 streaming device to compete with Roku for a stand-alone device. They are now happy to have the AppleTV app on competitors and some TVs now support AirPlay.
Chromecast requires another device to actually use. That will never be good enough to be the only solution for smart TVs.
Amazon maybe. But they really don’t have a value proposition over Roku.
I dunno, I like my Nvidia Shield. They know(from talking with them in interviews) that Android TV is a significant threat. Their advantage right now is existing user base and the fact that their stack runs on very cheap HW. As processors become increasingly more powerful at the low end, expect Android TV to make Roku irrelevant(barring another screw up from Google, that is).