Amazon has decided to stop selling streaming devices from Google and Apple that aren’t easily compatible with its Amazon Prime Video service
All across the galaxy the lights of compatibility of streaming services and devices are going out as Amazon has decided to stop selling streaming devices from Google and Apple that aren’t easily compatible with its Amazon Prime Video service.
While some may think this is just a mere skirmish, it is actually the opening barrage of a whole new dimension in TV consumption.
Amazon’s threat is nothing to be sniffed at since it paid the former Top Gear presenters Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May a reported £160m to create three exclusive seasons for Amazon Prime. Amazon will use such exclusive content to enter new markets.
This is of pivotal concern to both Apple and Google, whose respective Apple TV and Chromecast products enable consumers to enjoy streaming content from multiple sources.
Ready, aim, stream!
Unlike Netflix or Amazon, neither Apple or Google have invested in creating their own content or programming.
Amazon, on the other hand, is keen to see sales of its Fire TV stick, which plugs into the HDMI port on the back of TVs, rise exponentially as it enters new markets.
Amazon is understood to have sent an email to Marketplace sellers informing them it will stop selling the new Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast since these devices don’t interact well with Prime Video.
New listings for the products won’t be allowed and posting of existing inventory ends on 29 October.
However, it will continue to sell Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation and the Roku set-top box, which it deems does in fact work well with Amazon Prime.
‘The future for TV is apps. 60pc of streaming consumed on the internet today is consumed through an Apple device’
– TIM COOK
The move comes just days after Google revealed the latest generation of Chromecast devices and weeks after Apple unveiled its latest-generation Apple TV powered by Siri, which is designed to enable users to find content easily from all their favourite streaming sources.
The move by Amazon is likely to hurt Google more than it will Apple, which pretty much owns the current streaming hardware market and has its own powerful high street and online web retail empire.
“The future for TV is apps,” Apple CEO Tim Cook said in recent weeks. “60pc of streaming consumed on the internet today is consumed through an Apple device.”
Fight!
Star Wars image via Shutterstock
