Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

471–480 of 545 posts

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#471

Post by discodave »

robwilliams wrote: post #144
yid wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They are destroying their most valuable component of their brand, for a relatively weak one (Prime Video). This is why it almost seems like Amazon's Google+ moment: one underperforming product area somehow manages to convince leadership to change the company's underlying principles in its advantage to the long-term detriment of overall brand perception. Edit: 32 points in 19 mins for this comment. I really hope som…

That's an interesting point. When Google started pushing G+ social networks in general was all the tech media were talking about. Now it's the death of cable and the rise of streaming services. And just like Google wanted it's piece of the buzz-worthy social media space, Amazon wants a piece of the growing streaming market. It's certainly not a good precedent to set banning competitor's products from their store. I c…

It's slightly different in that selling media was originally Amazons core business. First books, then DVDs, then Kindle.

Streaming (music or TV) is just a new distribution and pricing mechanism for the same product. For Google, social media is a fundamentally different product to search. You can argue that they are both ways of 'finding things' but there are still huge fundamental differences.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#473

Post by kylebgorman »

stephengoodwin wrote: post #153
IgorPartola wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have found them to be constantly more expensive on tools vs Home Depot and Lowes. I used to think that Amazon would pretty much aways give me the best price (+/- random sites that may or may not be shady), but when it comes to any type of tools that has not been the case. I have also found Costco to be often times cheaper for household supplies such as paper towel, etc. Amazon's main benefit is convenience, but the…

I've always wondered if that was a regional variance. Since I live in Texas, I assume the prices of our grocery store staples are cheaper than they would be in, say, downtown New York City. But if I lived in a more urban, city environment, where easy parking isn't a given and picking up groceries in a car is more a hassle, then the time savings of having Amazon deliver for close to the same price that I would pay in…

Of all products, food probably shows the least regional variance, at least in the US. (Source: I've lived like everywhere.)

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#474

Post by ttbutz »

People overestimate Amazon's dominance. Amazon is only dominant in internet retail. In the wider retail world they're quite small. Rounded maths, Amazon is only about 5.4% of US retail sales, and that is only including the top 10.

source: https://nrf.com/2015/top100-table

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#475

Post by discodave »

drewg123 wrote: post #218

What really, really irks me about this is that Amazon ALREADY HAS an Android TV app. They were (apparently) contractually obligated to Sony to supply it for their TVs, and it works perfectly well on Sony Android TV based Smart TVs. It was possible to sideload this app on other Android TV devices until Amazon put a halt to it. See http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/05/16/amazon-disables-the-... I wonder if Netflix shou…

If Amazon ever banned competitors from running on AWS it would pretty much be the end of AWS.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#476

Post by lmm »

larubbio wrote: post #258

This move really saddens me. When I left Netscape to work at Amazon one of the things that I was excited about was a quote from Jeff. "Focus on the customer, not competition." It seems they hve forgotten that. I found it frustrating when I couldn't stream Prime videos to my android phone (is stock android that different from the version on Fire?) I found it frustrating (but understandable) when they said they wouldn'…

> I found it frustrating when I couldn't stream Prime videos to my android phone (is stock android that different from the version on Fire?)

They've fixed that now. There was a time when you couldn't, but eventually the fire crashed badly enough that they started allowing it.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#477

Post by solomone »

WCityMike wrote: post #421

You know, it's kind of worth noting that Amazon's not the only culprit for this kind of behavior. Unlike Android, you can't buy a book through the iOS Kindle app because Apple has banned apps that directly compete with its own services.

That's not correct. Apple doesn't allowing purchasing digital goods through a non-apple payment method. The margins are so low for Amazon it doesn't make sense to give apple 30% for every kindle book purchased.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#478

Post by icelancer »

awakeasleep wrote: post #34
driverdan wrote: post #12

Earlier 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…

> you need a $500+ scale to dose it accurately enough to keep a human from overdosing.

No you don't. It's not hard at all using milligram scales < $50. I do it all the time with various substances... including caffeine.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#479

Post by firloop »

andybak wrote: post #445
knexer wrote: post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does the Cast SDK depend on google play services? If so, that's got a pretty spotty technical record on their Fire devices, and I don't think Amazon is allowed to redistribute it anyways. Might be they don't want to implement Chromecast support for every platform except their own.

If it did - how would it work on iOS?

My understanding is that to implement the Cast SDK in an Android or iOS app, one must link a closed source binary.

On Android, it's Google Play Services, while on iOS it's a custom Cast binary that Google provides to developers to link in their apps. Due to this, almost all apps that support Cast are on iOS, Android, or Chrome because closed-source binaries are only distributed for those platforms.

Amazon would have to make special arrangements to include the Cast SDK on Fire OS. I still don't think this excuses them from bringing a proper Amazon Prime Video app with Cast support to iOS and (Google's) Android.

Re: Amazon Will Ban Sale of Apple, Google Video-Streaming Devices

#480

Post by dannyrosen »

Artistry121 wrote: post #5

I don't think this move is in Amazon's best interests long term. Their competitive edge with Prime is that I go to them first because I assume they'll have what I want, at a fair price and the highest level of convenience. If they are no longer the "Everything Store" then they won't be where I go to for everything...

It's very clear there's been frustration from their brand around customers using their Prime Instant Video product. I've been targeted with ads, marketing emails and even direct mail to use the service. It's clear they want more eyeballs on the thing they're giving to prime members for free.

In the end, all it would take to get me fully on board is a native XMBC plugin.

Post reply on HN