Amazon Stops Selling Apple TV and Google Chromecast
Amazon plans to stop selling Apple and Google video-streaming devices because they don’t “interact well” with its own media service.
The online retailer said it wants to sell products that work with its in-house streaming video service known as Prime Video.
Apple TV and Google’s Chromecast don’t easily support Prime Video.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon is planning on dropping streaming devices that don’t work with its Prime Video streaming service as of October 29.
Amazon sent an email to its marketplace sellers letting them know that no new listings for Apple TV or Chromecast products would be allowed and that existing listings would be removed as of October 29, Bloomberg reports.
The retailer said it had made the decision to avoid “customer confusion.”
Amazon said along with its own Fire TV, it will continue to sell other companies’ devices that are compatible with Prime Video.
These include Roku, Microsoft’s Xbox, and Sony’s Playstation.
Amazon has rapidly expanded its online content, using it to attract subscribers to its Prime loyalty membership scheme which offers fast delivery on purchases.
The company has used similar tactics with book publishers.
Last year Amazon blocked pre-orders for some books from the publisher Hachette, while the two sides negotiated over prices.
Many authors were angered by the move and accused Amazon of being anti-competitive.