Amazon to Resume Selling Apple TV and Chromecast

[MacRumors]

Amazon has decided to once again sell the Apple TV and Google Chromecast in its online store, reports CNET. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed that the company is officially offering the two products as of today.

"I can confirm that we are assorting Apple TV and Chromecast," CNET was told.

There are new product pages for the 32GB fourth-generation Apple TV, the 32GB Apple TV 4K, and the 64GB Apple TV 4K. There are also two listings for the Chromecast and the Chromecast Ultra.

All of the products are listed as "Currently unavailable" right now, but that is likely to change soon after the listings are completed and propagated to Amazon's site.

Amazon first stopped selling the Apple TV and the Google Chromecast in its online store in 2015, claiming the reason for the removal was incompatibility with the Amazon Prime Video streaming service.

"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."

Since then, the Apple TV has been unavailable on Amazon's site, but Amazon's original reason for not selling the Apple TV was invalidated with the launch of the Amazon Prime Video app for Apple TV.

Amazon last week introduced a long-awaited Amazon Prime Video app for the Apple TV. The new app is available on third, fourth, and fifth-generation devices.

The return of the Chromecast to the Amazon site comes after Google once again removed YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show and the Fire TV. Google said Amazon's refusal to carry the Chromecast and Google Home and its refusal to make Prime Video available for Google Cast was a key reason that it stopped supporting YouTube on Amazon's products.

Article Link: Amazon to Resume Selling Apple TV and Chromecast

 

[BigJohno]

hmm. Maybe because they now have an app on those platforms. They didn't want Apple and Google to get all that money while they took their sweet time developing their app.

 

[grassfeeder]

the fact that its not available on the OG AppleTV is ridiculous.

 

[Wackery]

they realize it’s no-real competition there’s no harm in putting them alongside the amazon website

 

[Bryan Bowler]

I’m glad to see these two getting along now.

 

[mixel]

Will this be enough to reverse Google’s descision to pull YouTube from FireTV boxes I wonder? Funny how they’re playing chicken.. Amazon selling a lot of FireTV boxes around Xmas only to have YouTube disappear on 1st January and a bunch of people get angry is.. Funny but annoying.

 

[budselectjr]

Realized how stupid they looked supporting net neutrality in public yet was blocking the competition.

 

[fendersrule]

Interesting that this happened on the same day that net neutrality was lifted. Hrmmmmmm

 

[kemal]

Just so Amazon customers can do some comparison shopping right before they buy a Fire TV.

 

[adbe]

"assorting"?

the fact that its not available on the OG AppleTV is ridiculous.

OG? That device is over a decade old.
[doublepost=1513281074][/doublepost]

Will this be enough to reverse Google’s descision to pull YouTube from FireTV boxes I wonder? Funny how they’re playing chicken.. Amazon selling a lot of FireTV boxes around Xmas only to have YouTube disappear on 1st January and a bunch of people get angry is.. Funny but annoying.

I'm sure it will. The ATV backdown is weird, but once they started supporting the ATV, they were pretty much obliged to sell the things, at which point singling out Google's ChromeCast both looks indefensibly anti-competive, and also makes it harder to sell the idea that this is all Google's fault.

 

[Norbs12]

It's kind of sad that Amazon is just an all inclusive market place even with competitors. They are pushing their store brand a bit too much.

 

[joesegh]

Maybe they'll add support for Chromecast on Prime Video one of these years.

 

[mixel]

I'm sure it will. The ATV backdown is weird, but once they started supporting the ATV, they were pretty much obliged to sell the things, at which point singling out Google's ChromeCast both looks indefensibly anti-competive, and also makes it harder to sell the idea that this is all Google's fault.

I’ve been wondering for a while if google have been purposely crippling the fireTV YouTube app as well, even before threatening to pull the plug.. I have the OG firetv box and everything works perfectly fine on it other than YouTube, which becomes a clunky chugging mess after a while forcing you to reboot the box to get some performance back. Hmm.

 

[sinsin07]

"assorting"? ...snip

assort (redirected from assorting)
Also found in: Thesaurus, Legal.
as·sort (?-sôrt')
v. as·sort·ed, as·sort·ing, as·sorts

v.tr.
1. To separate into groups according to kind; classify.
2. To supply with (an appropriate variety or assortment, as of goods).

v.intr.
1. To agree in kind; fall into the same class.
2. To associate with others; keep company.

v.t.
1. to distribute, place, or arrange according to kind or class; classify.
2. to furnish with a suitable assortment or variety of goods.

 

[69Mustang]

hmm. Maybe because they now have an app on those platforms. They didn't want Apple and Google to get all that money while they took their sweet time developing their app.

I don't think they were taking their sweet time developing their app. They were taking their sweet time solidifying their ecosystem.

 

[redneckitengineer]

Holding up their end of the bargain I see, lol

 

[Xavier]

It's great to have this app on the Apple TV. I know it is available on the Apple TV 3 but now I feel like I have an even better excuse to upgrade it.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Profits are profits.

 

[djeeyore25]

Great. Now put YouTube back on the Echo Show.

 

[BuffaloTF]

Will this be enough to reverse Google’s descision to pull YouTube from FireTV boxes I wonder? Funny how they’re playing chicken.. Amazon selling a lot of FireTV boxes around Xmas only to have YouTube disappear on 1st January and a bunch of people get angry is.. Funny but annoying.

I think that would require them to actually make a YouTube app available for the Fire. Since Fire is AOSP, it literally is as simple as allowing Amazon to add the apk to their App Store... that’s what Google’s beef really is. Amazon has their own “YouTube.com” app, which uses an old api and can block out ads, so Google is losing cash.

 

[RealityM]

Definitely a step towards Retail Neutrality....

 

[Tech198]

Since Amazon and Apple are playing friendly now, with Prime Video in App Store, Amazon is now free again to sell AppleTV..

Like happy endings

 

[and 1989 others]

Good. I’ve got prime. A chrome cast and Apple TV. They are all great tools independently and serve their own purposes.

 

[apolloa]

Not exactly surprising... despite all my other gadgets and Sky box, I still use my lil first gen Fire TV I got for my birthday once, it’s one of my all time favourite gadgets proves to me their is a place for these small streaming boxes despite what people say. Although I think Apple has overpriced the 4K model.

It’s just a shame this is off the back of the news of Disney becoming a massive global monopoly now

 

[bozzykid]

hmm. Maybe because they now have an app on those platforms.

Amazon still doesn't support Prime streaming to the Chromecast. But they lost Youtube on the Echo Show and soon the Fire TV, so that forced them into adding the Chromecast back. It will be interesting to see if Google forces them to support Chromecast before they add Youtube back.