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Amazon and Google finally squash their streaming beef

Well, for the most part.

amazon fire tv cube
Image: Amazon

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One of the longest-running “not-in-my-backyard” spats between the streaming video giants is officially over. Today, Google and Amazon put out a joint statement saying that going forward, YouTube will have a home on Fire TV, while Prime Video will properly support Chromecast and be more available on Android TV.

It was no Hatfields vs McCoys, but the year-long feuding between the tech giants managed to annoy anyone who wanted to use their devices to stream video. Now, the hatchet has been buried, with a couple of notable exceptions. There’ll be no YouTube app for the Echo Show, presumably because it competes directly against Google’s Home Hub; and Amazon still hasn’t put Google Home or recent Nest devices back onto its marketplace.

Still, this is a big win for consumers

Consumers who have been using workarounds to get Amazon Prime Video streamed to their Chromecasts or YouTube to their Fire TVs. Google says that the YouTube app will appear back on Amazon’s Fire TV devices “later this year,” with the main YouTube app first, with YouTube TV and YouTube Kids before the end of the year. Fire TV devices will also be certified for YouTube, meaning the app and platform will offer first-rate video quality and minimal buffering. The returning apps will also get Alexa integrations for searching and playing content.

On Amazon’s side, Chromecast integration will finally come to Prime Video’s mobile app, and the Prime Video app will come to all devices running Android TV.

The YouTube apps were pulled from Amazon’s Fire TV devices early in 2018, after Google took issue with Amazon not selling most of its products, like Google Home, Chromecast, and Nest devices; while Amazon has long resisted adding Chromecast functionality into its apps. With Amazon only recently allowing Chromecast sales back on its marketplace, it seems that the promise to add Chromecast/Google Cast into the Amazon Prime Videos app finally ended the finger-pointing.

Now that the spat over streaming apps is over, will the device feuding continue between the two companies? Could we see Amazon devices on the Google Store and vice versa one day? It does appear that the big tech companies have been doing a lot of settling differences lately, with Amazon and Apple coming to an agreement over device sales, and Apple and Qualcomm finally stopping suing each other.

Surprised by the news or was this to be expected at some point? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.

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