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Google, the company that actively tries to make YouTube not work on any Amazon device simple because Amazon is a competitor, is complaining about someone breaki

Google, the company that actively tries to make YouTube not work on any Amazon device simple because Amazon is a competitor, is complaining about someone breaking the open web? Google refused to build an app for Amazon devices and even when Amazon had a working app that was essentially a browser that visited YouTube on their Alexa devices with screens, YouTube changed their website for the sole purpose of breaking it on Amazon devices. Google has no right to complain here.

bqmjjx0kac 6y ago
IIRC, Amazon built their own UI around YouTube which meant YouTube was not monetizing those views. Edit: > A person familiar with Google's thinking on the matter told Engadget that a big point of contention had been the fact that Amazon implemented what was essentially a hacked version of YouTube on both the Echo Show and Fire TV. Rather than work with Google to build versions of its apps that work on Amazon's devices, Amazon has been trying to do it itself -- a move that cuts out features and also likely affects Google's ability to collect on some of the ad revenue that comes from its videos. https://www.engadget.com/2017-12-05-google-blocking-youtube-on-amazon-echo-show-fire-tv.html https://www.engadget.com/2017-12-05-google-blocking-youtube-...
- smaryjerry 6y ago
  The update at the bottom details amazons side of the story: Amazon has responded, and its response points to the unfair nature of Google effectively blocking access to the YouTube web site based on the type of device being used to access it. "Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point customers directly to YouTube's existing website," Amazon's statement reads. "Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website. We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible."
HJain13 6y ago
> Amazon isn’t without fault either. The company dragged its feet for years in releasing a proper Prime Video app for Android in the Google Play Store. Previously, you had to install Amazon’s own, separate app store and only then could you install Prime Video. It was a sad, convoluted attempt at luring users to the Amazon Appstore. Even now, Prime Video still doesn’t support Chromecast. > And that’s directly tied to Chromecast’s absence on Amazon.com. Since there’s no easy way of watching Prime Video, Amazon won’t sell it. But it’s Amazon’s own fault that Prime Video doesn’t work with Chromecast. Amazon has the power to make it happen. What’s Google supposed to do in this scenario? > Amazon’s decision to remove popular, well-liked products from its store over this spat — or never sell them to begin with — is an ugly example of the company throwing its weight and power around. No one should be surprised that Google is crying foul. Is the company under any obligation to sell Google Home — the chief rival to its own Echo? Of course not. Them’s the breaks. But the Chromecast situation is troubling, and Amazon’s recent halting of sales for certain Nest hardware (with no real explanation) seems juvenile. Prime shipping is still a very powerful incentive, and Amazon is well aware of that. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16738752/google-youtube-amazon-punishing-customers-feud https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16738752/google-youtube-a... Amazon is nowhere near innocent in their feud
- unimpossible 6y ago
  I use Chromecast with Prime. Mine's from 2016 so I don't know if they stopped supporting it on newer models. Everything else though, I agree with. Big tech, like any monopoly, does not play fair.
  - tbihl 6y ago
    This is old. They work now.
- kuschku 6y ago
  > Amazon is nowhere near innocent in their feud Amazon built the Fire stick to be compatible with Chromecast. Google then changed the Chromecast protocols repeatedly to prevent this. Only after that did Amazon ban the Chromecast devices from their store. Tell the whole story, at least.
  - ehsankia 6y ago
    But still according to your comment, amazon started the feud first by banning chromecast, and it just escalated from there?
    - kuschku 6y ago
      Changing the chromecast — at the time advertised as an "open" streaming standard — to lock competitors out was the first shot. It definitely started with Google.
  - drusepth 6y ago
    If I recall correctly, Google changed the Chromecast protocols repeatedly to disable the Fire stick's implementation because the Fire was wrapping direct video links (e.g. removing all the official YouTube UI/features) and stripping ad plays.
    - kuschku 6y ago
trident5000 6y ago
They tried to make YouTube not work on Firefox as well.
- jedberg 6y ago
  It still doesn't really work. When I load YouTube in Firefox it kind of hangs for a while and then plays in low res. If I grab the URL and jump over to Chrome, it instantly play in the highest resolution.
  - jeroenhd 6y ago
    That's strange, even with all my privacy and ad blocking addons, Youtube works perfectly fine in my Firefox configuration. Try a new Firefox profile and see if it still fails, I suppose; I suspect there's something wrong with your install. The only issue I have with Firefox + Youtube is that there's a memory leak somewhere in my addon setup that causes Firefox to bloat, but I haven't bothered to figure out which addon causes that because the impact has diminished greatly since I've installed another 16GB of RAM for other reasons.
  - ycombinete 6y ago
    I don’t get this at all in Firefox. It works just fine. Possibly because I have YouTube Premium?
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
yread 6y ago
Exactly same situation with Windows Phone
perryizgr8 6y ago
Google also killed windows phone using the same tactics.

bqmjjx0kac 6y ago

IIRC, Amazon built their own UI around YouTube which meant YouTube was not monetizing those views. Edit: > A person familiar with Google's thinking on the matter told Engadget that a big point of contention had been the fact that Amazon implemented what was essentially a hacked version of YouTube on both the Echo Show and Fire TV. Rather than work with Google to build versions of its apps that work on Amazon's devices, Amazon has been trying to do it itself -- a move that cuts out features and also likely affects Google's ability to collect on some of the ad revenue that comes from its videos. https://www.engadget.com/2017-12-05-google-blocking-youtube-on-amazon-echo-show-fire-tv.html https://www.engadget.com/2017-12-05-google-blocking-youtube-...

smaryjerry 6y ago
The update at the bottom details amazons side of the story: Amazon has responded, and its response points to the unfair nature of Google effectively blocking access to the YouTube web site based on the type of device being used to access it. "Echo Show and Fire TV now display a standard web view of YouTube.com and point customers directly to YouTube's existing website," Amazon's statement reads. "Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website. We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible."

HJain13 6y ago

> Amazon isn’t without fault either. The company dragged its feet for years in releasing a proper Prime Video app for Android in the Google Play Store. Previously, you had to install Amazon’s own, separate app store and only then could you install Prime Video. It was a sad, convoluted attempt at luring users to the Amazon Appstore. Even now, Prime Video still doesn’t support Chromecast. > And that’s directly tied to Chromecast’s absence on Amazon.com. Since there’s no easy way of watching Prime Video, Amazon won’t sell it. But it’s Amazon’s own fault that Prime Video doesn’t work with Chromecast. Amazon has the power to make it happen. What’s Google supposed to do in this scenario? > Amazon’s decision to remove popular, well-liked products from its store over this spat — or never sell them to begin with — is an ugly example of the company throwing its weight and power around. No one should be surprised that Google is crying foul. Is the company under any obligation to sell Google Home — the chief rival to its own Echo? Of course not. Them’s the breaks. But the Chromecast situation is troubling, and Amazon’s recent halting of sales for certain Nest hardware (with no real explanation) seems juvenile. Prime shipping is still a very powerful incentive, and Amazon is well aware of that. https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16738752/google-youtube-amazon-punishing-customers-feud https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/5/16738752/google-youtube-a... Amazon is nowhere near innocent in their feud

unimpossible 6y ago
I use Chromecast with Prime. Mine's from 2016 so I don't know if they stopped supporting it on newer models. Everything else though, I agree with. Big tech, like any monopoly, does not play fair.
- tbihl 6y ago
  This is old. They work now.
kuschku 6y ago
> Amazon is nowhere near innocent in their feud Amazon built the Fire stick to be compatible with Chromecast. Google then changed the Chromecast protocols repeatedly to prevent this. Only after that did Amazon ban the Chromecast devices from their store. Tell the whole story, at least.
- ehsankia 6y ago
  But still according to your comment, amazon started the feud first by banning chromecast, and it just escalated from there?
  - kuschku 6y ago
    Changing the chromecast — at the time advertised as an "open" streaming standard — to lock competitors out was the first shot. It definitely started with Google.
- drusepth 6y ago
  If I recall correctly, Google changed the Chromecast protocols repeatedly to disable the Fire stick's implementation because the Fire was wrapping direct video links (e.g. removing all the official YouTube UI/features) and stripping ad plays.
  - kuschku 6y ago

trident5000 6y ago

They tried to make YouTube not work on Firefox as well.

jedberg 6y ago
It still doesn't really work. When I load YouTube in Firefox it kind of hangs for a while and then plays in low res. If I grab the URL and jump over to Chrome, it instantly play in the highest resolution.
- jeroenhd 6y ago
  That's strange, even with all my privacy and ad blocking addons, Youtube works perfectly fine in my Firefox configuration. Try a new Firefox profile and see if it still fails, I suppose; I suspect there's something wrong with your install. The only issue I have with Firefox + Youtube is that there's a memory leak somewhere in my addon setup that causes Firefox to bloat, but I haven't bothered to figure out which addon causes that because the impact has diminished greatly since I've installed another 16GB of RAM for other reasons.
- ycombinete 6y ago
  I don’t get this at all in Firefox. It works just fine. Possibly because I have YouTube Premium?

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

yread 6y ago

Exactly same situation with Windows Phone

perryizgr8 6y ago

Google also killed windows phone using the same tactics.