HBO Now adds Chromecast support to its iOS and Android apps
Context & Ripple Effects
HBO Now spent its first months as an Apple-first product, but that wall has been coming down all summer: the service [[a:831037|launched on Android phones, tablets and Amazon Fire in mid-July as its Apple exclusivity ended]], with Chromecast and Fire TV promised next.
This update delivers on that promise for Google's dongle — following the same pattern seen when Chromecast support finally reached Vimeo on iOS earlier this year — and sets up the platform-by-platform rollout that continued with Roku later that October.
First-order effects
- HBO Now subscribers with Chromecast hardware can immediately cast from the iOS and Android apps instead of watching on a phone screen or needing an Apple TV.
Second-order effects
- The remaining big-screen platforms named in the rollout — Amazon Fire TV and Roku — come under pressure to close their own gaps quickly or lose cord-cutter subscribers to whichever device already runs the service.
Third-order effects
- If every major streaming service ends up on every major device within months of launch, device exclusivity stops being a differentiator and subscription platforms compete purely on content and price.
The trend: Streaming services are abandoning launch-window device exclusivity in favor of rapid multi-platform rollouts, turning set-top boxes and dongles into interchangeable pipes.