Amazopn.com’s Echo Show devices could no longer play videos from YouTube because the site’s parent, Google, stopped supporting the service, the company said recently in what is being described as a rare public feud between large technology companies.
Competitive tensions standing in the way of customers is not new in Silicon Valley and this spat is the latest in that phenomenon. From cloud computing and online search, to selling voice-controlled gadgets like the Echo Show, Amazon and Google square off in many areas.
In a statement, Amazon said, “As of this afternoon, Google has chosen to no longer make YouTube available on Echo Show, without explanation and without notification to customers. There is no technical reason for that decision, which is disappointing and hurts both of our customers.”
Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said instead that the development was no surprise.
“We’ve been in negotiations with Amazon for a long time, working towards an agreement that provides great experiences for customers on both platforms,” it said in a statement. “Amazon’s implementation of YouTube on the Echo Show violates our terms of service, creating a broken user experience. We hope to be able to reach an agreement and resolve these issues soon.”
From video recommendations to channel subscriptions, the Echo Show had displayed YouTube videos without integral features. In the past, there has been a similar dispute between Google and Microsoft Corp.
The exact number of customers who would be affected by the spat is not very clear yet. Available with a touchscreen and responding by voice command, Amazon only started selling the Echo Show in June.
According to research firm eMarketer, the sale of the voice-controlled Google Home was outperformed by Amazon’s suite of Echo devices, including the Echo and Echo Dot. Amazon has ambitions to place orders for its online retail business by voice, and to make it normal for people to control computers by voice, too.
“It’s a bit of a blow to Amazon,” said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. “YouTube is one of the big video services that they had in addition to their own. For that to disappear means a big chunk of the possible video content you could watch on Echo Show is now gone.”
The new and the development was earlier reported by The Verge, a technology news website.
Because of the fact that Apple Inc’s TV players did not support Amazon’s rime Video service, the company had stopped selling of the Apple products in 2015, among recent tech standoffs. The two finally reached an agreement earlier this year.
“Things get harder for end users because these companies can’t get along,” Dawson said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
Competitive tensions standing in the way of customers is not new in Silicon Valley and this spat is the latest in that phenomenon. From cloud computing and online search, to selling voice-controlled gadgets like the Echo Show, Amazon and Google square off in many areas.
In a statement, Amazon said, “As of this afternoon, Google has chosen to no longer make YouTube available on Echo Show, without explanation and without notification to customers. There is no technical reason for that decision, which is disappointing and hurts both of our customers.”
Google, owned by Alphabet Inc, said instead that the development was no surprise.
“We’ve been in negotiations with Amazon for a long time, working towards an agreement that provides great experiences for customers on both platforms,” it said in a statement. “Amazon’s implementation of YouTube on the Echo Show violates our terms of service, creating a broken user experience. We hope to be able to reach an agreement and resolve these issues soon.”
From video recommendations to channel subscriptions, the Echo Show had displayed YouTube videos without integral features. In the past, there has been a similar dispute between Google and Microsoft Corp.
The exact number of customers who would be affected by the spat is not very clear yet. Available with a touchscreen and responding by voice command, Amazon only started selling the Echo Show in June.
According to research firm eMarketer, the sale of the voice-controlled Google Home was outperformed by Amazon’s suite of Echo devices, including the Echo and Echo Dot. Amazon has ambitions to place orders for its online retail business by voice, and to make it normal for people to control computers by voice, too.
“It’s a bit of a blow to Amazon,” said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. “YouTube is one of the big video services that they had in addition to their own. For that to disappear means a big chunk of the possible video content you could watch on Echo Show is now gone.”
The new and the development was earlier reported by The Verge, a technology news website.
Because of the fact that Apple Inc’s TV players did not support Amazon’s rime Video service, the company had stopped selling of the Apple products in 2015, among recent tech standoffs. The two finally reached an agreement earlier this year.
“Things get harder for end users because these companies can’t get along,” Dawson said.
(Source:www.reuters.com)
