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Amazon Follows Through: Drops Apple TV, Chromecast
Hot Hardware notes that Amazon has stopped selling two pieces of hardware -- Apple TV and Google's Chromecast -- that compete with Amazon's own streaming business. (They promised to drop them a while back; not everyone though they actually would.) From the article: While some have likened this move to being anti-competitive, it's hard to grasp whether the legal system would agree. Amazon's defense is that since these devices don't support Prime Video, it doesn't want to sell products to its customers and have them assume that they will."
Amazon's defense is that since these devices don't support Prime Video, it doesn't want to sell products to its customers and have them assume that they will.
Never mind the fact that Amazon seems to intentionally not be developing for either device, when smaller streaming services support Apple TV and the Chromecast API is open?
What if I buy a Prime-capable device, but I'm not a Prime customers. Won't I be confused?
If you want an anti-trust lawsuit, usually you need political connections, and better political connections than your opponent. And Amazon keeps up on their payments, to both parties.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Here is the response I received from Amazon when I contacted customer service: Amazon Your Account Amazon.com Message From Customer Service Hello, I am sorry for the inconvenience you experienced in this case. After looking into your inquiry about the item new Apple TV that you could not find in the website, I feel we could best resolve this concern for you over the phone so that we can help you locate the item. This way, you can speak to our live customer support team who can ensure we resolve this concern to your satisfaction. I realize that, at this point, asking you to contact us again would be disappointing; however, we really feel that the best way to assist you with this concern is over the phone. Your patience and understanding are greatly appreciated. So in this case, I request you to please visit the following link, enter your phone number through the Phone tab, and we'll call you: https://www.amazon.com/gp/help... We're available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Please be rest assured that we are here to make things easier for you and we'll take every action to prevent you from bearing any loss. On a personal level, I highly appreciate your patience, cooperation and understanding in this matter. It is our privilege to have you as our valued customer & we want to make sure you are always taken care of. Thanks for your cooperation. We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the links below to tell us about your experience today. Best regards, Johann S.
Is Amazon dropping all other streaming devices that don't support Prime Video? And if not, will that undermine their argument?
All of which is really putting the cart before the horse - in terms of legal arguments, does their rationale actually hold any water to start with?
From the summary: "Amazon's defense is that since these devices don't support Prime Video, it doesn't want to sell products to its customers and have them assume that they will."
Couldn't Amazon just post a warning that those devices don't support Prime Video?
It would get really interesting if Google would block Amazon from their search results, and Apple from their computers in response.
Website Just Down For Me? Find out
And now Amazon will learn the lesson that attempts to impose control only create chaos and harm. It's a simple and ancient axiom and one the shareholders deserve to have observed.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
But Amazon would be happy to sell me another one...
its even worse than that. There will be full seasons of TV shows and 1/2 the episodes will be free the rest will cost money. why? because they figure if you watch a few you will pay for the rest.
not to mention anything that ive actually wanted to watch in the form of a movie prime has wanted me to pay (even when free on netflix)
ive established that my prime membership will not be renewed
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Right after Black Friday and Holiday sales.
We have been instructed not to create a record of our communication with you. We realize that this record could be used against in court or in public. Phone calls are less likely to be used against us in court or in public.
3 posts, all not in thread, with the same post
if it was not clear enough that its the same troll posting this on every article, you have shown your hand
try harder next time
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Yes, when a customer trades in a Chevy, they'll put that car on sale.
So your analogy is silly.
Since of course the reason those devices don't support Prime Video is that Amazon decided not to provide Prime Video on those devices, unlike say Netflix, Hulu, and every other streaming provider under the sun.
There is always newegg.com, and frys.com, for all your electronic needs, if amazon.com can not satisfy them.
To the used dealer network. They don't resell it to the public if they are a 'Chevy' dealer.
Small time used car shops sell all types of cars, manufacture branded dealerships do not.
Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
no, they will sell it on their own lot (if the car is good enough)
source- family owned car dealerships my whole life, worked at a number of them
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
Maybe the practice is different in the USA or wherever you're from, but in my experience brand dealers sell used cars of any marque as long as they're decent cars. If they're not, they'll pass them on to other dealers or auction.
We bought a Holden (GM) car from a Toyota dealer.
Many dealers sell used cars of whatever make or model.
A local Nissan Dealer has 51 used Nissans, 5 Fords, 3 Volkswagens, 3 Toyotas, 3 Kias, 3 Jeeps, 2 Chevys, 2 Dodges, a BMW, a Honda, a Hyundai, and an Acura.
Some will just sell what people trade in and some will go to the auctions.
It's not being anti competitive. Otherwise you could say the Apple Stores are anti competitive for not carrying Microsoft products.
if you delete things in the course of a regular business policy, then you don't have to produce them
That depends on the minimum retention period laws in effect in your jurisdiction.
that's exactly how it is in the USA
That's what anti-competitive capitalists really lust after, total lock in and unlimited profit with crappy products. None of this level playing field and competing on price and service. And to a great extent their wishes have been granted. Look at the entire US banking and Wall Street economic sector, pharmaceuticals, telcos, agribusiness, brewing (the two biggest brewing groups in the world want to merge), ad nauseam.
Amazon doesn't own the internet, no more then ABC owns the broadcast bandwidth that they use. Broadcast TV providers are allowed to use a common resource when they follow the rules, pay their taxes and fees, and engage in honest business. So why the hell is Amazon, or any of these other scum sucking pigs, allowed to have their walled garden carved out of the open common resource that is the internet?
It's just more of the DMCA crap, or the upcoming TPP. Corrupt insiders are writing the rules so that they have permanent control, no competition, no oversight and guaranteed high profit margins. The game is rigged, and the less you have the more they have. Out of your pocket, into theirs.
Why is Snark Required?
Small time used car shops sell all types of cars, manufacture branded dealerships do not.
I keep looking for that "Factually Incorrect" mod option, and I can never find it.
Don't disappoint your bird dog. Go to the range.
Since Amazon has decided to play hardball, maybe Google and Apple should yank Amazon's Shopping app for the app stores.
Don't forget Amazon still has an Amazon Prime video app in the iOS store - AND that app uses AirPlay just fine to stream to an AppleTV (even the new one).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Since a single retailer gained a near monopoly on online product sales. That's when.
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
I hope google bans amazon from its search results and apple refuses to play amazon videos on macbooks/iphones/ipads...
For factually incorrect posts that have been modded up as informative, you're looking for -1 Overrated.
For factually incorrect posts that haven't been modded up, just find and mod up a post that corrects them.
It doesn't hurt to be nice.
Corrupt insiders are writing the rules so that they have permanent control, no competition, no oversight and guaranteed high profit margins.
What you describe is not capitalism.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
It's not your wonderland imaginary version of capitalism that has never happened anywhere in the world, no, but it's what capitalism always results in. Deny the empirical evidence all you want, but unfettered capitalism has always lead to monopolies, lock-in and massive abuses of power.
Is Amazon video missing on AppleTV because Apple wouldn't allow them on it, or because Amazon chose not to be on it?
Did it boil down to Apple maybe allowing them as long as Amazon kicked back 5% of on-demand revenue? For prime videos, were they asking for a percentage there, too? Is there some upfront cost to be on Apple TV + percentages?
I can only see Apple's demands for money as being part of the equation, although I don't know how it works for Netflix -- does Netflix pay Apple just for presence? Some fee for new subscribers bought through Apple TV?
Was it just a case of Apple wanting to exclude Amazon because of competition over rental/purchases?
Will the new Apple TV support Amazon Video?
FWIW, I don't think Amazon is anti-competitive. I don't like it, because I think when video services fracture with too many exclusives, the studios win, cable wins, and consumers lose -- a person is pretty easy back to $50/month for a patchwork of streaming services to get what they want, back to a cable model of subsidizing shit you don't care about.
If you have a US prime account you can stream anywhere. Uh... unless you leave the country. Can't stream in Canada with a US account.
Wuddooeyeno? IITYWYBMAD? Like nuts? eclecticallyincorrect.com
Apple TV doesn't provide WebKit or UIWebView on tvOS
In some ways, Nintendo is considered behind the times on Internet policy. Yet it had the web on its TV device eight years ago, when Wii owners could download "Internet Channel powered by Opera" on Wii Shop. So how behind the times is Apple?
"While some have likened this move to being anti-competitive..."
Yes, "some" in this case means "approaching 99.99999%". This, to me, seems to be the very essence of what "anti-competitive" means.
Honestly, this is such an obvious anti-competitive move that I can't believe it's even being debated, especially since they were selling Apple TV and Chromecast before they came out with their specific brand-locked bullshit product. But we can't have people buying stuff that might cut into our profits, can we?
So if Amazon starts making hammers, is it okay if they drop all other brands of hammers from their store? Because those other hammers might not be compatible with Amazon brand nails, you know.
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
... to sell any particular product? If someone complains, will Apple be obligated to sell Chromecast devices on their website? When I walk into Safeway, I cannot find any of the Loblaws house brands on sale. Likewise, when I walk into Loblaws, I cannot find any of the Safeway house brands on sale. Yet, in neither case does anyone complain that these companies are being anticompetitive.
No retailer should be obligated to sell any particular product. Apple has both its own website and physical stores. Chromecast is available for sale online and at multiple physical retailers. Amazon prevents me from buying neither by not selling them. By not carrying these products, all that Amazon does it to deprive itself of part of the price I pay.
linquendum tondere
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Shop elsewhere. Next topic.
Pretending this is my office full of bitter coworkers..
Honestly, the only reason I shop at Amazon is because they seem to have everything. As I have been noticing that they depart from that, or their prices get higher, I'm starting to look elsewhere. They were the best marketplace option but are becoming less so over the past year or so, and their competition is seeming a little better. But the competition still do not offer a really good comprehensive service... so I'm looking for other options but what I'm finding isn't great.
Just my $0.55 (US inflation, 1774-2008, for $0.02)
I'm in canada, where prime video is not available on any device unless I lie about my location and/or use a VPN. As such removing from sale devices that do not support a format that I cannot use from their store only succeeds in ensuring they will not get my business for these devices.
DICK move Amazon!
Amazon sells both the PS4 and Xbox One but not the Wii U, maybe Nintendo should sue them? I really don't see how Amazon should be required by law to sell any device it doesn't want to. I don't see any violation of race, religion or sexual orientation or age or anything else, it' just electronics. Target stopped selling Amazon Fire tablets a couple of years ago, don't recall anybody getting their panties in a bunch.
That really depends on the dealer. many actually sell to or thru a 3rd party second hand car dealership. (also family owned car dealership for 30 years which was only recently sold). we never sold second hand vehicles on the dealership lots.
must be the dealer contract or decision. We had pontiac and jeep franchises and if the car was worth more than around 8 grand we would keep it. if not it would go to a wholesale auction. thanks for that insight!
have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
He trolls almost every thread with political hate. Just another deer caught in GOP headlights knowing Dems are doomed come 2016 due to a president who actually managed to piss off the nation worse than Bush Jr (no small feat), and the weak corrupt socialist candidates Dems are propping up like cardboard cut outs for target practice when the real pie throwing contest begins.
I'm not a Republicrat or a Demlican; but I don't think the R's have anything particularly to crow about in their comically-huge candidate lineup, either.
Show me a link to a confederate flag on Amazon and I'll buy one. You can't. Who gives a phuck about a rainbow flag?
Howabout a Confederate Rainbow Flag?
By the way, I checked. No, they don't.
Apple TV and Chromecast are hugely popular products and great stocking stuffers. I guess Amazon is scared of being found a monopoly and desperate to breeze some life into competition by forcing millions of customers to establish an account and form of payment with another online store. I would suggest that they also dump iPhone and Samsung devices and focus more on promoting their Fire Phone.
Their drone delivery is not very reliable if they keep dropping shit.
Try it! Library of Babel