Customers Caught In The Crossfire As Google And Amazon Continue To Feud

There’s quite a bit of bad blood between Google and Amazon right now, and customers are getting caught in the crossfire. The search engine giant just announced that it is removing YouTube from the Fire TV and Echo Show products. This is in retaliation for the merchant giant’s decision to remove Google’s NEST products from its listings, as well as its continued refusal to feature Chromecast.

As The Verge notes, it’s the customers who are getting hurt the most by this bitter fight between the two tech giants. Those using Show will lose the ability to use YouTube immediately while owners of Fire TVs will be unable to use the app come January 1st. In a statement to the publication, an Amazon spokesperson said that Google’s decision was disappointing.

“Google is setting a disappointing precedent by selectively blocking customer access to an open website,” the spokesperson said. “We hope to resolve this with Google as soon as possible.”

It would be best if this issue is dealt with soon, as well. YouTube has become such a huge part of any streaming device, be it smartphones or the various smart gadgets popping up on the market that its absence would be quite noticeable. For some people, it might even be a deal breaker, and the device manufacturer would certainly not come out of it without a scratch.

As to what Google likely hopes to get out of this development, it’s basically pressuring Amazon to give in and sell its products, The Washington Post reports. So far, neither company has shown any hint as to which one will buckle first. The fact that some unauthorized versions of YouTube have been found on some Show devices means that Amazon is at least trying to found an out.

For now, customers can either wait and see if anything changes, or get another device. That’s only if they can’t live without YouTube.