Big fishes like the Google and Amazon are the Mount Everest of their own territory. However, they do have some common factor and these bug players are not ready to compromise on some issues, which might hit the customers very hard.
Now Google and Amazon are in such a situation, where the brands are not ready to compromise on one another. So, a few months before Google pulled the plug for the dedicated Youtube App (biggest streaming platform) however, Amazon came up with an idea to include a URL, which regained the access for YouTube on the millions of Amazon Fire Stick (which is a proprietary streaming device from Amazon). In last 24 hours, Google has decided to completely block the YouTube access on the Fire Stick and the reason behind is very shady.
Here are the official product statements from Google:
“Amazon doesn’t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn’t make (its) Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of (our sister company) Nest’s latest products.”
“Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and Fire TV,”
Amazon has given a reply stating that:
“Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website.”
Amazon does have their own streaming devices like the Amazon Echo, Amazon Dot, Amazon Fire Stick and Amazon Echo Show. As these are the hardware products, it is left to Amazon to sell or not to sell third-party gadgets like Google Home, Google Home Mini, Chromecast etc. Considering the fact that the YouTube is an open source platform, where any user can access with whatever the device he likes, given that he has an internet connection and above that Google withholding these services to get something from the other company is not moral.
Amazon officials are planning to give back the access to YouTube and they are in talks with the Google counterpart to resolve this issue. Its ok if YouTube doesn’t want to develop a dedicated app for the platform, but, blocking a URL from an entire ecosystem to achieve something doesn’t go well with the Internet freedom and the net neutrality.
We do support Amazon and condemn the way Google is behaving. So, on which side are you? Share your views on this hot topic.