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Google and Amazon are burying the hatchet to better serve users of their respective streaming video platforms, the companies announced this morning. In the coming months, the official YouTube app will come on Amazon Fire TV devices and Fire TV Edition smart TVs, while the Prime Video app will come on Chromecast and on other devices with built-in Chromecast feature
Prime Video will also be widely available within the ecosystem of Android TV partners, and the twin applications of YouTube – YouTube TV and YouTube Kids – will arrive on Fire TV later in the year.
Google says YouTube users on Fire TV will be able to connect, fully access their library and play 4K HDR videos at 60 fps on supported devices.
Prime Video app users, meanwhile, will be able to stream content from the Prime Video catalog, including original Amazon programming, 4K videos, and access to their Prime Video Channel subscriptions. They can also use Amazon's X-Ray feature in the app.
This truce follows several years of poor relations between the two tech giants, who compete on several verticals – including their streaming TV platforms and services and, more recently, smart speakers like Echo and Google Home.
Chromecast devices and other Google devices have been disabled and banned from the Amazon retail site because of their disagreements.
The companies started a new quarrel in 2017 – this time about Amazon's implementation of a YouTube player on Echo Show, which Google said it did without consultation. He removed Amazon's access to YouTube, and Amazon solved the problem by sending Echo users to the YouTube homepage.
Today, many of Google's hardware devices are still not available for sale on Amazon, including its smart speakers and other home smart devices, direct competitors of Amazon products, such as Echo. (A search on "google home mini," for example, shows sponsored ads and best seller recommendations for Amazon's Echo Dot.)
Of course, none of this is good for consumers – especially because the two customer bases overlap. Someone with a Chromecast may want to watch videos on Prime Video, for example, or buy Google products on Amazon.com. And everyone is watching YouTube.
The new deal will only deal with streaming services, we understand. This does not affect Amazon.com's assortment or other hardware issues.
Amazon has always been anti-competitive with rivals.
For years, the retailer disagreed with Apple before finally reaching an agreement in 2017 to allow the Prime Video application on Apple TV and Apple TV to return to Amazon.
In the end, these back-and-forth battles turned against everyone involved. Roku emerged as the dominant broadcast platform in the United States as it played a neutral role and supported all applications and services in the same way. Amazon is just starting to catch up, thanks to the price cuts on Fire TV hardware and the pretty popular underground community that is focused on using its "guns" for hacking.
"We're excited to be working with Amazon to launch the official YouTube apps on Fire TV devices around the world," said Heather Rivera, Global Head of Product Partnerships at YouTube, in a statement. "Bringing our flagship YouTube experience to Amazon Fire TV gives our users even more ways to watch the videos and creators they love."
"We're excited to offer the Prime Video app on Chromecast and Android devices, and give our customers convenient access to the shows and movies they love," said Andrew Bennett, Prime Global Business Development Manager. Video. "Whether watching the last season of The wonderful Mrs Maisel, catch the teams go head to head Thursday Football or by renting a new movie, customers will have even more ways to broadcast what they want, when they want it, no matter where they are. "
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