Roku isn’t but Roku also gives a lot more. But I was just talking adding a keyboard to your existing smart TV so youtube searches are easy. A $30 keyboard is way cheaper than chromecast and a smartphone which actually many people don’t have. AppleTV is a non-starter, also too late to the field. Roku is in trouble for the same reason I think chromecast will fail, most TVs and bluray players do 90% of Roku, it was great when nothing else was smart but now everything is smart.
I don’t think Chromecast will fail from Googles point of view. They want to drive people to YouTube and Chromecat does that.
But look at today’s Smart TVs. That can do what Chromecast can do but most if not all require the use of a wireless keyboard to really be efficient. Not too many folks are going to do that.
So what will happen to Chromecast as we go forward? My prediction:
Short run: a huge success. At least 10s of millions sold.
Long run: Smart TVs wiil start working with your iPad or IPhone and do exactly want the Chromecast does now. That should be no more than a tear or two away.