Amazon and Google are not getting along right now, and that rocky relationship has resulted in YouTube being pulled from Amazon Echo Show and Fire TV devices.
Based on a statement from Google, the latest development in its battle with Amazon reaches back to Amazon’s decision in 2015 to stop selling Google’s Chromecast as well as the Apple TV.
"We've been trying to reach agreement with Amazon to give consumers access to each other's products and services," a Google spokesperson said in a statement obtained by Engadget. "But Amazon doesn't carry Google products like Chromecast and Google Home, doesn't make Prime Video available for Google Cast users, and last month stopped selling some of Nest's latest products. Given this lack of reciprocity, we are no longer supporting YouTube on Echo Show and FireTV. We hope we can reach an agreement to resolve these issues soon."
But according to unnamed sources cited by Engadget, the latest move from Google is due to Amazon offering a hacked version of YouTube for its Echo Show and Fire TV devices after a previous version of YouTube was taken down. In September, Google pulled YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show and Amazon did not take it well.
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“Google made a change today at around 3 pm. YouTube used to be available to our shared customers on Echo Show. As of this afternoon, Google has chosen to no longer make YouTube available on Echo Show, without explanation and without notification to customers. There is no technical reason for that decision, which is disappointing and hurts both of our customers,” said Amazon in a statement obtained by The Verge.
YouTube on Echo Show will no longer be available beginning today, and YouTube on Fire TV devices will be pulled on Jan. 1, 2018.
The flaring tensions between Amazon and Google come several months after Amazon appeared to have settled its differences with Apple. Apple announced that it would be launching a version of the Amazon Prime Video app for Apple TV.
But as The Verge has astutely noted, it’s now six months later and that app has yet to arrive on Apple TV.