Google pulls YouTube from the Amazon Echo Show

Is Google punishing Amazon for creating a real challenger to Google Assistant? Amazon's virtual assistant Alexa has been a breakout star for 2017, and has been found alongside Google Assistant in handsets like the HTC U11 and the Huawei Mate 9. Thanks to its integration with Amazon, shopping with Alexa is a breeze. Regardless of Google's motive, yesterday at around 3pm EDT, Google pulled YouTube support from the Amazon Echo Show. The latter is the smart speaker created by Amazon that comes with a 7-inch screen.

Amazon, as you might expect, was rather upset at the situation. In a statement, the company that invented the smart speaker, said that Google removed its streaming video service from the Echo Show without warning or explanation to owners of the device. Amazon added that "There is no technical reason for that decision, which is disappointing and hurts both of our customers."

For its part, Google said that Amazon's use of YouTube on the Amazon Echo Show "violates our terms of service, creating a broken user experience. We hope to be able to reach an agreement and resolve these issues soon."

If Alexa's success had nothing to do with Google's action, what could have set off Google? There is some speculation that Google was not pleased that the Echo Show failed to offer two features that are available on other implementations of YouTube. Those two are autoplay and the ability to subscribe to channels.


Considering that the Echo Show offered video news briefs, Amazon Video streams, and YouTube, the latter will be sorely missed by Echo Show owners. So it says right here that Amazon and Google will shake hands, resolve their differences, and YouTube will return to the first smart speaker to feature a screen. And we wouldn't be surprised to see this take place very soon. Until then, those sporting the device will receive a message that reads "Currently, Google is not supporting YouTube on Echo Show" whenever they try to access the video streamer.

source: TheVerge