Amazon says it will start selling Apple TV and Google Chromecast again, two years after removing them
Ben Fox Rubin / CNET :
Context & Ripple Effects
This reversal closes the loop on a fight Amazon started in October 2015, when it said it would stop selling Apple TV and Chromecast because neither streamed Prime Video, then pulled every listing from its store, including third-party resellers'. For two years, the web's biggest retail channel carried Roku, Xbox, and PlayStation but not its two most prominent rival streamers.
The about-face matters because the delisting had become the reference point for streaming-hardware exclusion — Amazon using storefront control as leverage in a video-app dispute. Resuming sales signals Amazon stepping back from that tactic before regulators or partners forced the issue.
First-order effects
- Apple and Google regain access to Amazon's storefront for their streaming devices, restoring a major retail channel that had been closed since the October 2015 removal decision.
- Amazon keeps Fire TV in place but surrenders the exclusionary practice that gave Apple and Google a standing grievance — and a talking point against Prime Video's reach.
Second-order effects
- With hardware back on shelves, the dispute migrates from retail to apps, setting up the exchange that followed: YouTube returning to Fire TV while Prime Video added Chromecast and Android TV support.
- Roku and other streamers that stayed listed throughout lose a differentiation angle — being purchasable on Amazon stops distinguishing them from Apple TV and Chromecast.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, streaming platforms shift from locking rivals' devices out of stores and apps toward reciprocal compatibility, competing on content and software across each other's hardware rather than through distribution blockades.
The trend: Streaming hardware rivalry is moving from storefront exclusion and app blackouts toward reciprocal cross-platform compatibility, with each side's concessions traded rather than won.