Amazon, a prime spot to pick up the latest tech from Google and Apple, is now banning the sale of Google’s Chromecast dongles and the Apple TV. Starting now, no new listings will go up for these products, and on October 29, all existing listings for these devices will be removed.
Why would Amazon do this? Competition. Amazon now promotes the Fire TV and Fire TV Stick, and to help lessen that device’s competition, they can simply disallow competitors to list their products. Is is extremely shady in the eye’s of consumers? Absolutely, but Amazon has every right to do it.
Naturally, the Roku, Xbox, and PlayStation, all of which allow for streaming via Amazon Prime Video, will remain available for customers to purchase.
According to an email sent out from Amazon corporate, “Over the last three years, Prime Video has become an important part of Prime. It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.”
From now on, you will need to pick up your Chromecast dongles from either Google Store, Best Buy, or any other online retailer that carries it.
Bad form, Amazon.
Via: Bloomberg