Amazon Fire TV Stick shipments pushed back to January

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Amazon’s Fire TV Stick is already proving difficult to come by.

Earlier on Wednesday, CNET attempted to place an order for a Fire TV Stick . Upon getting to the checkout page, Amazon revealed the streaming device would not ship until January 16. The listing page earlier on Wednesday was still promising a November 19 ship date, but that has since changed.

“Due to popular demand, orders placed today are expected to arrive after January 1, 2015,” Amazon wrote on its listing page. “See delivery date at checkout. This item will be released on November 19th.”

An Amazon spokesperson said the device will still ship on time for people who ordered earlier. The delay only applies to new preorders and “new orders are prioritized on a first-come, first-served basis.” Stores like Best Buy and Staples will also have the device available for sale on November 19.

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The $39 Fire TV Stick, a streaming-media device that connects to an HDMI port on the back of your TV, was revealed on Monday and is available for perorder. It works with a slew of streaming-video and -music apps, including Netflix, Hulu Plus, Spotify, Vevo, A&E and, of course, Amazon’s own Prime Instant Video. The Fire TV Stick comes with a remote control and a free, 30-day trial of Amazon Prime and Netflix.

The device is designed to take on products like the $35 Google Chromecast and $50 Roku Streaming Stick, both of which connect to an HDMI port to stream content via your television. There’s also now the Matchstick, a streaming device based on Mozilla’s open-source Firefox OS that cropped up on Kickstarter earlier this month and easily beat its $100,000 funding goal.

When announced, Amazon said the device would start shipping on November 19, with people who ordered it early receiving the device on that day or soon after. It’s not clear when the cutoff occurred, forcing everyone else to wait nearly two months for their order to ship.

The big question now: Are shipment dates for new orders of the Fire TV Stick being pushed back because of demand or because of supply shortages? According to Amazon, it’s the former.

“We built a ton of these but customer demand outpaced our supply,” read an e-mailed statement from Amazon. “We’re excited by the overwhelming customer response and we have teams working hard to build more as quickly as possible.”

Updated, October 30, 11:30 a.m. PT to clarify details around earlier preorders and add that the device is available in stores on November 19.