Bezos' BAN-HAMMER batters Chromecast, Apple TV

Competition? We've heard of it and we DON'T LIKE IT

Amazon has decided its own video streaming plans take precedence over customer choice, and has given notice that Chromecast and Apple TV devices will be kicked off its Web store.

Scrabbling around for any explanation that doesn't say “we don't like selling competitors' products”, the retailer says instead that products using Google or Apple software aren't compatible with its Prime Video streaming service.

Bloomberg reports the ban-hammer has fallen immediately: no new listings will be permitted, and unsold inventory will be “removed” by October 29.

The email sent to sellers says “It's important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion”.

As BetaNews notes, Prime Video streaming would interact better with products from Cupertino and the Chocolate Factory if Amazon had bothered to produce apps for those products.

An analyst told Bloomberg that only 20 per cent of Amazon customers have signed up to Prime Video (at least partly, El Reg would note, because its availability outside America is spotty).

Roku, Xbox and Playstation devices, which have Prime Video apps, will stay on the virtual shelves.

Anyone troubled by a stirring sympathy for Apple, however, can relax. It's embroiled in its own ban outrage, having pulled iFixit's app from the Apple store over unauthorised tear-downs. ®