Amazon has followed through on its plans to go nuclear on its competitors: The company removed all listings of Apple‘s Apple TV and Google‘s Chromecast streaming adapter from its website Thursday.
This includes listings from third-party resellers, as well as used and previous-generation devices sold through Amazon’s marketplace. Users who search for Chromecast of Apple TV instead get recommendations for Amazon’s own Fire TV devices.
Amazon told resellers earlier this month that it was going to discontinue the sale of both Apple TV and Chromecast by the end of October. The company confirmed the decision to stop selling both devices when contacted by Variety, sending a statement that read in part: “It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.”
Blaming missing support for Amazon video on Google and Apple is somewhat misleading: Chromecast has long had an open SDK, allowing any publisher to add casting to their mobile apps. And the newest Apple TV, which Apple is starting to sell this week, also includes an app store that Amazon could use to distribute its own app.
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It’s much more likely that the real reason for the removal has to do with backroom business: Amazon has long feuded with Google over Android and Google’s app store rules, and the e-commerce giant may balk at Apple’s revenue sharing demands. Amazon didn’t respond to follow-up questions about the product ban. A Google spokesperson declined to comment, and Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.
