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Amazon 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

Amazon 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 last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime," Amazon said in the e-mail. "It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.

Splines 11y ago
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, chances are they're just going to go to apple.com to do it, and Amazon has lost the chance to turn that customer over.
- tokenizerrr 11y ago
  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.
  - Splines 11y ago
    Their lack of support for other devices is almost certainly intentional. (I'm surprised at the amount of sway the hardware teams appear to have over the Prime Video app team. Someone very high up is preventing this from happening for strategic reasons.)
ericfrederich 11y ago
"Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime," Amazon said in the e-mail. "It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion." Then make your damn Video application work with the Nexus Player.
- JustSomeNobody 11y ago
  Exactly.
- spacemanmatt 11y ago
  It would be so easy for Amazon to support Chromecast. Instead they're losing me as a Prime customer.
  - gopher2 11y ago
    I don't get it.
    - spacemanmatt 11y ago
      When my subscription expires, I won't get it anymore, either.
mtgx 11y ago
People have raised this issue before, but it hasn't been taken seriously: If Google can't show its own products ahead of others in the Google search, why can Amazon show its own products ahead of all the other products on its store on its front-page?
- snowwrestler 11y ago
  Google has dominant marketshare in its industry (search engine), Amazon does not (retail).
- caskance 11y ago
  IANAL, but probably because Google has more of a monopoly on web search than Amazon does on online shopping.
pm24601 11y ago
> Amazon can absolutely do this May, maybe not. It depends if the FTC views this as an anti-competitive move. See https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a... "It is unlawful for a company to monopolize or attempt to monopolize trade, meaning a firm with market power cannot act to maintain or acquire a dominant position by excluding competitors or preventing new entry."
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- arrosenberg 11y ago
  You can still buy Apple TV or Chromecast Directly, from Best Buy/Walmart, etc. etc. All Amazon did with this is alienate people like me, who just want Prime to work with the 2 Chromecasts I already own. Good reminder that they are more interested in what they want than what I want.
- mrpotes 11y ago
  Yep, I thought the same thing - I've referred the article to the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and to the UK Consumers' Association.
redler 11y ago
They really should be neutral about the products listed on their site) but the reason they gave is kinda ridiculous Recall that they've also used the power of their catalog to fight publishers with whom they had pricing model disagreements (e.g. Hachette) by disallowing pre-orders of popular upcoming titles from those publishers.

Splines 11y ago

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, chances are they're just going to go to apple.com to do it, and Amazon has lost the chance to turn that customer over.

tokenizerrr 11y ago
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.
- Splines 11y ago
  Their lack of support for other devices is almost certainly intentional. (I'm surprised at the amount of sway the hardware teams appear to have over the Prime Video app team. Someone very high up is preventing this from happening for strategic reasons.)

ericfrederich 11y ago

"Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime," Amazon said in the e-mail. "It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion." Then make your damn Video application work with the Nexus Player.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago
Exactly.
spacemanmatt 11y ago
It would be so easy for Amazon to support Chromecast. Instead they're losing me as a Prime customer.
- gopher2 11y ago
  I don't get it.
  - spacemanmatt 11y ago
    When my subscription expires, I won't get it anymore, either.

mtgx 11y ago

People have raised this issue before, but it hasn't been taken seriously: If Google can't show its own products ahead of others in the Google search, why can Amazon show its own products ahead of all the other products on its store on its front-page?

snowwrestler 11y ago
Google has dominant marketshare in its industry (search engine), Amazon does not (retail).
caskance 11y ago
IANAL, but probably because Google has more of a monopoly on web search than Amazon does on online shopping.

pm24601 11y ago

> Amazon can absolutely do this May, maybe not. It depends if the FTC views this as an anti-competitive move. See https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-a... "It is unlawful for a company to monopolize or attempt to monopolize trade, meaning a firm with market power cannot act to maintain or acquire a dominant position by excluding competitors or preventing new entry."

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
arrosenberg 11y ago
You can still buy Apple TV or Chromecast Directly, from Best Buy/Walmart, etc. etc. All Amazon did with this is alienate people like me, who just want Prime to work with the 2 Chromecasts I already own. Good reminder that they are more interested in what they want than what I want.
mrpotes 11y ago
Yep, I thought the same thing - I've referred the article to the UK Competition and Markets Authority, and to the UK Consumers' Association.

redler 11y ago

They really should be neutral about the products listed on their site) but the reason they gave is kinda ridiculous Recall that they've also used the power of their catalog to fight publishers with whom they had pricing model disagreements (e.g. Hachette) by disallowing pre-orders of popular upcoming titles from those publishers.