Google vs. Amazon

[LongTimeListener]

Who ya got?

Google and Amazon are punishing their own customers in a bitter feud

Google removed YouTube from Fire TV and the Echo Show. This after Amazon delisted Nest products and continues to refuse selling Chromecast.

And oh BTW these are some of the companies that will soon be involved in regulating your Internet.

 

[Songbird]

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

This bodes well for the end of net neutrality.

 

[RickStain]

I just got the notice that Youtube will stop working on Fire TV sticks on Jan. 1. My autistic son is gonna be piiisssssed.

 

[lcjjdnh]

What does this have to do with net neutrality?

 

[playthrough]

I don't have to be party to this. I'm going back to the mall and my parents' Encyclopedia Britannicas.

 

[TheSportsPredictor]

What does this have to do with net neutrality?

What do you think's gonna happen when net neutrality goes bye bye? If companies are already screwing people, do you think they'll just be nice and decide not to portion off Internet access in tiers when they are finally allowed to do so?

 

[lcjjdnh]

What do you think's gonna happen when net neutrality goes bye bye? If companies are already screwing people, do you think they'll just be nice and decide not to portion off Internet access in tiers when they are finally allowed to do so?

1) Amazon is not currently regulated by Title II, so this seems only tangentially relevant.

2) I don't know what will happen when net neutrality goes "bye bye." Maybe it will be better for consumers; maybe it will be worse. But "if companies are already screwing people" does not seem like a particularly sound type of analysis that's likely to to enlighten us on that question.

 

[lcjjdnh]

It also seems to me that this is likely a situation in which the market really is likely to work itself out. YouTube is going to lose viewers who decide they'll just watch Netflix or Amazon Prime or some other video service instead (including perhaps some new YouTube* competitor); Amazon is going to lose customers who decide they really want to watch YouTube and so will instead buy a Roku (or whatever).

In other words, while the companies may very well in the short term be able to "punish[] their own customers," in the long term, the customers will "punish" them. And, at some point, it'll probably be in their interests to work a deal out.

* I'll grant that perhaps an economic analysis involving YouTube is a bit more complicated because it's "free" and has tons of content that is not easily replicable due to network effects.

 

[SpeedTchr]

Can't you just watch YouTube on your laptop/desktop?

 

[Pilot]

We are big Roku fans here, instead of Chromecast and Fire stick. (I realize it’s not EXACTLY the same, but is as far as what we’d use it for.) It is to the battle between Amazon and Google what Dr. Pepper is in the battle between Coke and Pepsi: in the middle and likely to get attention from both sides.

 

[maumann]

We are big Roku fans here, instead of Chromecast and Fire stick. (I realize it’s not EXACTLY the same, but is as far as what we’d use it for.) It is to the battle between Amazon and Google what Dr. Pepper is in the battle between Coke and Pepsi: in the middle and likely to get attention from both sides.

Somewhere, IJAG just punched a hobo.

 

[bigpern23]

My TV has four HDMI inputs and three USBs. I could plug in a DVR, PS4, 4K media player, blu-ray player, an Apple TV, Roku and Fire Stick, if I wanted. I also have native apps on the TV for Amazon, Hulu, Vudu, Netflix, YouTube, CNN, MLB.tv and about a thousand others, all free of charge. People don't necessarily have to choose between YouTube or Netflix or Amazon Prime.

 

[Songbird]

Would love if someone explained ABCD how one uses Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, Chromecast etc etc.

 

[User 11148]

It also seems to me that this is likely a situation in which the market really is likely to work itself out. YouTube is going to lose viewers who decide they'll just watch Netflix or Amazon Prime or some other video service instead (including perhaps some new YouTube* competitor); Amazon is going to lose customers who decide they really want to watch YouTube and so will instead buy a Roku (or whatever).

In other words, while the companies may very well in the short term be able to "punish[] their own customers," in the long term, the customers will "punish" them. And, at some point, it'll probably be in their interests to work a deal out.

* I'll grant that perhaps an economic analysis involving YouTube is a bit more complicated because it's "free" and has tons of content that is not easily replicable due to network effects.

I win! Another convert to the "market fetishist" cult!

 

[User 11148]

Would love if someone explained ABCD how one uses Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, Chromecast etc etc.

They're just streaming players ... basically highly specialized computers that sit between your TV and your internet. Buy one, hook it up to the internet and your TV, and you can watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., on your TV. They also work with what I call "internet cable" (like Sling or Playstation Vue).

They vary (a little) in what content you can access, but they're cheap (from $30 to $40 for perfectly good ones to around $100 for a top-of-the-line one).

 

[bigpern23]

They're just streaming players ... basically highly specialized computers that sit between your TV and your internet. Buy one, hook it up to the internet and your TV, and you can watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc., on your TV. They also work with what I call "internet cable" (like Sling or Playstation Vue).

They vary (a little) in what content you can access, but they're cheap (from $30 to $40 for perfectly good ones to around $100 for a top-of-the-line one).

I don't have any of the Roku/Fire/Apple TV type devices, but aren't they just about obsolete? Do those devices provide any functionality besides access to the apps, essentially making a "dumb" TV a smart TV? Because it seems like you can access all the apps natively on any newer TV.

 

[User 11148]

I don't have any of the Roku/Fire/Apple TV type devices, but aren't they just about obsolete? Do those devices provide any functionality besides access to the apps, essentially making a "dumb" TV a smart TV? Because it seems like you can access all the apps natively on any newer TV.

Well, I have only "dumb" TVs (and projectors in my man-cave/sports-bar/garage), so maybe so. But if something new comes out -- e.g., PlayStation Vue or Sling -- the box is more easily upgraded (or swapped out) than is the smart TV.

 

[HC]

Would love if someone explained ABCD how one uses Apple TV, Roku, Fire Stick, Chromecast etc etc.

JR and I use Chromecast.
a) Stick the little gizmo in the TV
b) Follow simple instructions to connect to WiFi
c) Follow simple instructions to install on computer/smart phone/tablet
d) When you fire up whatever you're streaming on the computer/smartphone/tablet you hit the Chromecast icon and it appears on your TV.

Honestly ... If I could set it up and use it, anyone can.

 

[Pilot]

I don't have any of the Roku/Fire/Apple TV type devices, but aren't they just about obsolete? Do those devices provide any functionality besides access to the apps, essentially making a "dumb" TV a smart TV? Because it seems like you can access all the apps natively on any newer TV.

Yeah, they probably are nearing the end of their usefulness. We bought a Roku box and plugged that into the living room TV and loved it. Then, when we were shopping for a new bedroom TV, we bought one with a Roku baked into it, so that's just a smart TV where the "smart" software happens to be by Roku, I guess. I can't comment on how that software compares to other smart TVs, but I can't imagine it's very different.

Again, one of the perks of the Roku brand for us is everyone seems to cooperate with it since it's not owned by any of the big dogs, so we can download the mainstream apps like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, YouTube then all the various TV network apps, like ESPN3, HBOGo, CBS All Access, etc.

I used to do some of that with an actual computer, running a line from my desktop to my TV. My more techie friends still do, and you can get way deep into media center PC software. The tech side of it all started to get a bit beyond me, however, and Roku is a very user-friendly way to get that stuff on your TV, and you don't have to figure out how to run an HDMI from one end of your house to the other.