Google is withdrawing its popular YouTube app from Amazon’s smart speaker and video streaming devices, the latest skirmish in a rare public battle between the tech titans that are increasingly butting heads over TV and gadgets. Google, which is owned by Alphabet, said on Tuesday that the decision to block YouTube from Echo Show and Fire TV was due to a “lack of reciprocity” from Amazon, and followed failed attempts to reach an agreement over mutual access to products and services for customers of both companies.
Google told to the media: “Amazon doesn’t carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn’t make [Amazon] Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest’s latest products.” Amazon said Google was “setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website,” but said they hoped to resolve the dispute.
The two companies are selling competing gadgets that connect users TVs to the internet. Google’s device is called Chromecast, and has 36.9m US users, according to research company eMarketer, while Amazon’s Fire TV has 35.8m users in the US. But YouTube is a heavy piece of leverage for California-based Google.
