Google courts Chromecast buyers with freebies
The first day of Spring is upon us, and Google celebrates with free offers to anyone buying Chromecast from today through April 19. The freebies arrive as Apple tries to whip up sales of its streaming set-top box by exclusively offering HBO NOW starting April 10. Apple TV sells for $69, but Chromecast for $35—and Google's goody box is valued at $80.
To 3 free months of Play Music and DramaFever add: One free Play Movies rental, 1 month free Qello Concerts, and 3 months free Sesame Street GO. You can find the offers here. These are for the U.S. market, and the goodies may not be the same in each of the 16 countries where Google offers any.
Chromecast ranks third in U.S. retail streaming device sales, behind Roku and leader Apple TV. The stats, from NPD, are for fourth quarter 2014.
The HDMI dongle allows users to "cast" streaming content from various devices. Android and iOS are supported, as well as the Chrome browser.