Amazon and Google each issued blogs Tuesday announcing the official end (or at least a cease fire) to their long-running conflict that has kept the Amazon Prime streaming app off of Chromecast devices and certain Android TVs and Google’s YouTube app off of Amazon Fire TV devices.
The companies said that beginning today the official YouTube app can be added to various Amazon Fire TV products worldwide. Fire TV devices supported so far include: Fire TV Stick (2nd Gen), Fire TV Stick 4K, Fire TV Cube, Fire TV Stick Basic Edition, and all Fire TV Edition smart TVs.
At the same time, the Amazon Prime streaming app will arrive on Chromecast and many Android TVs. The Amazon Prime app previously had been available on Sony Android TVs and NVIDIA streamers, but that was through a special arrangement by the device makers.
Google said that “in addition to the select Android TV devices that currently have Prime Video, many more Android TV smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming devices will also soon have Prime Video, with rollout starting today. You can download Prime Video by clicking the app icon directly from your home screen or in Google Play.”
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“Chromecast and Chromecast built-in users have access to over 2,000 apps for content and games, and starting today, you can cast content straight from the Prime Video app to your TV. You’ll need the latest Prime Video app and Android 5.0 or higher or iOS 10.1 or higher on your phone or tablet to receive the update. And Chromecast Ultra users get access to 4,000 titles included with Prime at no additional cost,” Google said.
Amazon said in its blog announcement that it plans to expand availability of the YouTube app “to additional Fire TV devices in the coming months, with YouTube TV and YouTube Kids launching later this year. The all-new YouTube app will appear in the ‘Your Apps and Channels’ row on all compatible devices—just select, download, and install the app to start streaming.”
YouTube will bring compatible 4K FireTV devices and connected televisions access to a veritible ocean of user-generated content, including many videos in 4K Ultra HD resolution and up to 60 fps frame rates.
In addition, on Fire TV products, the YouTube app also work with Amazon’s Alexa AI voice control platform, and will allow searching for and playing content by spoken commands.
For more information, see the Google and Amazon blogs in the provided links.
By Greg Tarr
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