You know what, good for Google. I hate to sound like a child, but Amazon fired the first salvo by dropping the Chromecast a few years back. This move only seems fair.
Amazon removing the Chromecast from their store was, if anything, verification at the Fire TV was not a product that could succeed on its own.
I love my Chromecast and I buy new models directly from Google, because no matter what Amazon says I know the difference between Google's product, and Amazon's copycat version of it.
They fired the second shot when they refused to make anything to stream from a kindle fire to a chromecast. That's literally a "amazon media playing thingy" and it can't stream to the market leader casting device.
I love competition but this to me is a case of "ohh, screw that, just make whatever work with whatever"
If a store has become so dominant that it is impossible to compete if you can't get a listing, then shouldn't we be addressing that issue? If Amazon is in the dangerous position of manufacturer/retailer/marketplace owner (not to mention hosting provider) to the detriment of competition then Amazon needs breaking up.
If Google is a content provider/directory/manufacturer to the detriment of consumers then the same is true.
This tit for tat stuff over their sucky streaming sticks is not the issue
Agreed. The thing that pisses me off, is that Amazon video doesn't even support Chromecast for streaming, how hard would it be to code that in? I bought firefly from amazon thinking I could easily stream it to my chromecast, but nope.. -- I won't get amazon video, or support any of there video things till I can.
They need to let bygones be bygones and accept each others apps/gadget/technology to make it so each other is a success. They're more a symbiotic relationship than rivals imho.
Yeah, normally I'd say two wrongs don't make a right, but if this move manages to convince Amazon to finally support Amazon Video on Chromecast, maybe it's worth it.
Though on the other hand, this could just as easily result in a long-term standoff.
> Amazon fired the first salvo by dropping the Chromecast a few years back
...after Google intentionally changed the Chromecast protocol almost weekly to force app developers to use their proprietary library, and to prevent third-party implementations of the library from working.
There’s dozens of open source implementations of the protocol from that era left on GitHub, all abandoned over the constant changes that were purely done to prevent anyone (Amazon or open source devs) from streaming to Chromecast, or receiving streams, without going through Google’s proprietary library.
Google should probably block amazon from any search results. That should get amazons attention if this does not. Its bad that they are not selling google home mini, chromecast , Nest products. What reason they have for blocking google home mini and Nest . For chromecast - they said it does not play prime video which amazon does not offer support for..
Didn't Google block the ability to stream to Chromecasts? I'm not justifying anyone's behavior here but this is why the "they started it" argument is considered childish. These are all anti-customer moves which will hurt both companies in the long term.
Last time [1] we speculated, some saying it's a straight tit for tat [2], others, like me [3], saying it can be because Amazon half-assed the implementation after getting no help from Google.
They were probably actively preventing them from releasing a YouTube TV app for the FireTV as well, I'm guessing.
I'd love to switch to YouTube TV (I've had MANY problems with PlayStation Vue, and Sling is decent, but missing some channels). They don't have a FireTV app, though. But frankly I'm ready to simply ditch my FireTV because of that alone. Throw in the fact that my FireTV is covered with ads now and it's kind of a no-brainer.
I watch the PBS NewsHour on Youtube on the FireTV because it tends to be available sooner than on the PBS app. After the last round of updates, I've gotten a lot of video stuttering in YouTube, such that restarting the FireTV is the only way to fix it. That, and the UI of the FireTV got way harder / less-logical to use a few months back (along with the ads).
Beyond the recent junking up of the UI and Youtube hiccuping, I'm getting really, really tired of the Google / Apple / Amazon / content / platform / device wars.
YouTube is probably the best placed brand in the whole market to offer a true OTT cable replacement. And Amazon wants to own that market with Channels.
Amazon would do anything to kill YouTube’s chances of making that happen, so I guess Google is firing some early warning shots!
I had been wondering why they were both so uppity about £30 dongles, but if they’re pre-competing for the £1000 a year cable market then it makes absolute sense!
One example is when Google got the third party YouTube app removed from the Windows Store. Google had refused to make a decent YouTube port on the store, and so a very well made third party one was introduced. It had all the features that YouTube Red boasts today, but it didn't support ads. This was not because the developers were trying to make a play on Google, but because there wasn't an API to serve ads. They mentioned they were more than happy to comply, but were served a C&D and the app was killed.
like how you can't view amazon prime videos from android tablets (or at least, certain versions iirc.. amazon yanked it's apk from play store. i dont recall why, but some people simply side-loaded from amazon store).
In a more non-corporate environment this would be the beginning of an arms race to try to figure out how to fiddle with headers to either block or not block the device, but since we're discussing corporate behemoths with legal teams larger than most companies, it'll stop here, because no legal team would sign off on the idea of fraudulently identifying yourself in a header in order to obtain services from a hostile competitor.
That's not why. See the article. Google has stated this is because amazon doesn't sell certain google products through their store, and doesn't allow prime video on the chromecast.
[+] [-] bitsoda|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RIMR|8 years ago|reply
I love my Chromecast and I buy new models directly from Google, because no matter what Amazon says I know the difference between Google's product, and Amazon's copycat version of it.
[+] [-] nolok|8 years ago|reply
I love competition but this to me is a case of "ohh, screw that, just make whatever work with whatever"
[+] [-] jimnotgym|8 years ago|reply
If a store has become so dominant that it is impossible to compete if you can't get a listing, then shouldn't we be addressing that issue? If Amazon is in the dangerous position of manufacturer/retailer/marketplace owner (not to mention hosting provider) to the detriment of competition then Amazon needs breaking up.
If Google is a content provider/directory/manufacturer to the detriment of consumers then the same is true.
This tit for tat stuff over their sucky streaming sticks is not the issue
[+] [-] gremlinsinc|8 years ago|reply
They need to let bygones be bygones and accept each others apps/gadget/technology to make it so each other is a success. They're more a symbiotic relationship than rivals imho.
[+] [-] Ajedi32|8 years ago|reply
Though on the other hand, this could just as easily result in a long-term standoff.
[+] [-] kuschku|8 years ago|reply
...after Google intentionally changed the Chromecast protocol almost weekly to force app developers to use their proprietary library, and to prevent third-party implementations of the library from working.
There’s dozens of open source implementations of the protocol from that era left on GitHub, all abandoned over the constant changes that were purely done to prevent anyone (Amazon or open source devs) from streaming to Chromecast, or receiving streams, without going through Google’s proprietary library.
[+] [-] Jayakumark|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mulmen|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] niftich|8 years ago|reply
At least this time, we know the real reason.
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15348063 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15348063#15349384 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15348063#15349084
[+] [-] AmIFirstToThink|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] inthewoods|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lixardz|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jitix|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisper|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] joekrill|8 years ago|reply
I'd love to switch to YouTube TV (I've had MANY problems with PlayStation Vue, and Sling is decent, but missing some channels). They don't have a FireTV app, though. But frankly I'm ready to simply ditch my FireTV because of that alone. Throw in the fact that my FireTV is covered with ads now and it's kind of a no-brainer.
[+] [-] peatmoss|8 years ago|reply
Beyond the recent junking up of the UI and Youtube hiccuping, I'm getting really, really tired of the Google / Apple / Amazon / content / platform / device wars.
[+] [-] dhoulb|8 years ago|reply
YouTube is probably the best placed brand in the whole market to offer a true OTT cable replacement. And Amazon wants to own that market with Channels.
Amazon would do anything to kill YouTube’s chances of making that happen, so I guess Google is firing some early warning shots!
I had been wondering why they were both so uppity about £30 dongles, but if they’re pre-competing for the £1000 a year cable market then it makes absolute sense!
[+] [-] GabrielF00|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mooman219|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tootie|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] spydum|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] foolrush|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dominotw|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 627467|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] quotha|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jerf|8 years ago|reply
In a more non-corporate environment this would be the beginning of an arms race to try to figure out how to fiddle with headers to either block or not block the device, but since we're discussing corporate behemoths with legal teams larger than most companies, it'll stop here, because no legal team would sign off on the idea of fraudulently identifying yourself in a header in order to obtain services from a hostile competitor.
[+] [-] bitmapbrother|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tzakrajs|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] now_l93|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oh-kumudo|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] lostmsu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sharemywin|8 years ago|reply
it's sucks I have to make a deal with the prime devil to get it.
[+] [-] AmIFirstToThink|8 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] otakucode|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gitgud|8 years ago|reply
- Client app implementations
- Specific countries
- Specific browsers
- Specific users
Is this correct?
[+] [-] ucaetano|8 years ago|reply
You're still free to browse YT on a Fire TV, but Amazon decided not to include a browser to prevent you from doing so.
[+] [-] unknown|8 years ago|reply
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