Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ:GOOG,GOOGL) Google is now longer allowing users to watch YouTube videos through Amazon.com, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) Echo Show.
Amazon Echo owners that try to watch YouTube videos through the device will now be told that they can’t by Alexa. The virtual assistant event goes so far as to put the blame on Google by saying it doesn’t support the feature.
Amazon released a statement concerning the matter. In this statement, it claims that Google pulled YouTube from the Amazon Echo show without warning or notifying customers. It also says there is no technical reason for it to do this.
Google has responded to this with its own claims about YouTube on Amazon Echo Show. The company says that it was in negotiations with Amazon about including key features, but that these fell apart. These features are likely staples of YouTube, such as subscriptions, autoplay and recommendations, reports The Verge.
As it stands right now, there’s now way to know when YouTube videos will be available again on the Amazon Echo Show. It’s also possible that Google doesn’t want its videos playing on the device because it wants to push customers toward its own virtual assistant, Google Home. Home doesn’t have a screen, but can send request for videos to Chromecast.
Funnily enough, Amazon has pulled almost the same act as Google in the past. The online retailer previously refused to sell Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) TV streaming device. This was due to there being no version of its Amazon Prime Video app available for it. However, a recent deal solves these issues.
As of this writing, William White did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
