Why is it when Apple does this to an app for the same reasons, it's ok?
I suspect their announcement was a copy/paste of Apple's Kindle app rejection on the app store (when it included the option to buy books).
Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
171–180 of 545 posts
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
The new AppleTV has an App Store. Does this mean Amazon can't or won't create an app for Prime Video for the AppleTV? (Can't or won't, either answer would be telling.)
If a device comes with a useable app store, I'd rather it not come with tons of bloatware for every service ever out of the box. At this point it just seems Amazon is touting their weight.
This move is obviously them using their position in the marketplace but I would imagine they would avoid the App Store as Apple takes a significant chunk of every purchase.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Within 3 minutes of reading this, I canceled my Amazon Prime account. The fact they require sideloading APKs for streaming video on Android devices, and even then only support SD quality was annoying. This just tells me they have no intention whatsoever of improving the situation. I guess I'll use Google Express now.
I believe they required sideloading because of Google Play's restrictions on selling items / subscriptions without giving Google a cut.
Google does not restrict the ability to sell items through your app; that's Apple. You can implement a store in your app with purchases if you want, without using Google's payment system. And many such apps exist in the Play store.
What you can't do in an app in the Play store is implement your own app store and load arbitrary apps. And Amazon forces you to install the full Amazon app including its app store, rather than offering a standalone version of Amazon Video.
Amazon likely does this because people care enough about Amazon Video to jump through hoops to get it, and once people have jumped through those hoops, Amazon can then try to get them to use the Amazon app store instead of Play.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
My wife was just complaining about this very thing. The solution to Prime's streaming issues isn't to ban the sale of Chromecasts it's to add Chromecast support to prime. This is a very odd choice on their part.
Their solution is for you to buy an Amazon Fire Stick and use it instead of your Chromecast.
It doesn't make any sense. They want to sell me Prime not the Fire Stick. To sell Prime get it on as many devices as possible and adding Chromecast support is easy.
Amazon makes some strange decisions.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#175This is a trojan horse PR move to expose Apple's longstanding "customer confusion" argument for excluding competitive products (think Amazon MP3 downloads) from the App Store.
If what Apple has been doing for years is legal, so is this, and Apple can't complain without exposing complete hypocrisy.
In my view, Amazon wants to be forced back from this position in a precedent-setting way. This is Jeff Bezos's long-shot attempt to finally tear down the wall of Apple's closed marketplace.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
I also have Prime but wish I could display it on our TV using Chromecast. The only way to do this is to cast a tab (desktop) or cast the entire device display (Android). It would be great if Amazon Prime Video supported Chromecast with a cast button like Hulu, Netflix, Youtube, Vevo, etc...
My wife was just complaining about this very thing. The solution to Prime's streaming issues isn't to ban the sale of Chromecasts it's to add Chromecast support to prime. This is a very odd choice on their part.
Hell, until recently, you couldn't play Prime Video on Android at all without resorting to Flash trickery in the browser. (But, of course, you could play it on Fire OS devices, even though they're running a fork of Android.)
Amazon really does not like Google. This is not a failure on Google's part, this is all of Amazon's own making in an attempt at product lock-in.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#177Amazon can absolutely do this (but I think it is a slippery slope, possibly a sign of some bad changes ahead at amazon. They really should be neutral about the products listed on their site) but the reason they gave is kinda ridiculous [1]. I have a hard time believing the enough people don't know the difference between Prime & Netflix to make this a legitimate reason to stop selling Chromecast and Apple TV [1]: Over…
The should use the competitor's pages as an opportunity to upsell prime-compatible devices. Show a "Prime Video" logo crossed out that you can click on that takes you to a page telling you why Prime is so much better than whatever you're trying to buy. (I don't know if that gets into legal hot waters or not, but couldn't be worse than actually not selling competing devices.) If someone wants to buy an Apple TV, chanc…
Or, you know, just implement Chromecast support in their apps. There's SDKs to do so, and netflix, hulu and others have already done so.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#178Anti Trust. Corporate censorship.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#179After considering a Chromecast and an Apple TV I went with Roku because the main services I want are Amazon Prime Video and Netflix. If Apple and Google are playing hardball against Amazon video this move only makes sense in a tit for tat battle.
How do get Apple and Google as the ones playing hardball here? Amazon is the aggressor here not Apple or Google.
Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
It came to a close a long time ago. Amazon refuses to sell many legal products, eg caffeine powder and anything with the confederate flag.
Just in case anyone is interested in caffeine powder (interesting because it sublimates) do yourself a favor and don't order it. The smallest orders available online are enough to kill an elephant, and you need a $500+ scale to dose it accurately enough to keep a human from overdosing. And while most human overdoses will be uniquely unpleasant but not lethal, there is definitely the potential for a lethal dose if som…
Yet they readily sell 5g bags of Yohimbine HCl powder which can cause cardiac problems at 30-50mg.