This Is Why Amazon Does Not Sell Google’s Chromecast Anymore

BY Sagar Gandhi

Published 1 Jun 2016

Amazon logo

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos has clarified that the confusion that Amazon felt users would have if it continued selling Apple TV and Chromecast is more along the lines of those companies not having ‘acceptable business terms’ that Amazon can work with. In other words, the money coming in to Amazon is not up to their liking, and thus the company stopped selling the two devices on its online web store.

Though Bezos keeps highlighting that the prime reason behind the move is that Amazon wants to only sell devices that support Prime Video, the fact still remains that though “you can always get the video player on the device,” you can’t always get them on “acceptable business terms.”

“Private [sic] business discussions should stay private.” – Jeff Bezos

When pushed to divulge what he meant when he said that the terms were not favourable for Amazon, and whether the decision was motivated due to the 30% cut that Apple requires on all purchases, Bezos said, “private business discussions should stay private.” Though there was obvious stonewalling from Amazon’s side, it gives us enough to deduce that the motivation boils down to the root of all evil – Money!

“It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion.” — Amazon press release in October 2015

Jeff Bezos did point out that Amazon has no qualms selling Fire TV to other “competitive products” such as the PS4 and Roku. Evidently the parent companies of these devices are willing to give Amazon ‘acceptable business terms’ or basically let Amazon have a larger share of the profit pie.

Back in October 2015, Amazon stopped selling Apple TV and Chromecast on their web-store amidst much confusion from the public. At the time, the company did explain the the motivation was to avoid customer confusion as these media players did not interact well with Prime Video, however the current statements from Jeff Bezos have put the situation under a less altruistic and more selfish light.

Do you prefer Prime Video or are you more favourable towards Chromecast or Apple TV? Let us know in the comments below.