There’s a reason Amazon doesn’t sell the Chromecast anymore, and it has to do with the lack of Prime Video on the platform. The retailer de-listed the product — as well as the Apple TV — last October, and according to CEO Jeff Bezos, the company wants “acceptable business terms” before it can bring its video service to the platform.
At the Recode Code Conference, Bezos clarified his stance on the removal of the Chromecast from Amazon:
[W]hen we sell those devices, we want our player — our Prime Video player — to be on the device, and we want it to be on the device with acceptable business terms. You can always get the player on the device. The question is, can you get it on there with acceptable business terms.
It’s likely the executive was talking about Google’s cut of in-app purchases and subscriptions when talking about “acceptable business terms.” Amazon has over 50 million Prime members, and the annual $ 99 subscription brings in billions of revenue for the retailer every year.
The executive also talked about Amazon Echo, saying that over 1,000 people are involved in developing Alexa’s capabilities:
We’ve been working behind the scenes for the last four years. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. There will be huge advances. Bigger companies like Amazon have an advantage because you need a lot of data to do extraordinary things.
Check out the interview with Walt Mossberg in its entirety here: