Amazon is to stop selling video-streaming TV devices from Google and Apple, as they don’t “interact well” with its own media service, drawing up new battle lines in the digital entertainment wars. Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast are popular items in Amazon’s electronics store. But the devices are in a brawl for market share with […]
Amazon is to stop selling video-streaming TV devices from Google and Apple, as they don’t “interact well” with its own media service, drawing up new battle lines in the digital entertainment wars.
Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast are popular items in Amazon’s electronics store. But the devices are in a brawl for market share with Amazon’s Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, which were introduced in 2014.
The Fire Stick delivers Amazon’s video offerings to its customers. Apple TV and Chromecast do not.
Amazon’s move to ban competitors is not a retailing gambit. In fact, the company is willing to risk annoying customers who cannot get what they want because it is pursuing a much bigger prize.
The stick is crucial to Amazon’s ambitions to move from being just a retailer to a multifaceted provider of everything virtual and physical.
Existing listings will be removed by 29 October.
The company said along with its own Fire TV, it will continue to sell other companies’ devices that are compatible with Prime Video.These include Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sony’s Playstation.
Amazon has rapidly expanded its online content, using it to attract subscribers to its Prime loyalty membership scheme which offers fast delivery on purchases.
Google has just unveiled a new version of its Chromecast TV device, and Apple is due to release the latest version of its TV this month.
Amazon has used similar tactics with book publishers. Last year it blocked pre-orders for some books from the publisher Hachette, while the two sides negotiated over prices. Many authors were angered by the move and accused Amazon of being anti-competitive.
