“Jeff Bezos plays hardball [and] bans Apple TV,” Alcaraz Equity Research writes for Seeking Alpha. “Apple’s decision to release a console gaming iOS TV device and its ambition to become a streaming video service provider are seen as threats by Amazon. Bezos therefore promptly exercised his prerogative to eliminate current and upcoming threats to Amazon.”
“I believe there is no such thing as retail store neutrality. The store owner has every right to exclusively sell its own products. It is in Amazon’s best interest to stop helping Apple and its third-party partners sell the new vastly improved Apple TV 4 units,” Alcaraz writes. “Amazon knows all too well that Apple has enough cash to eventually pay what Hollywood is demanding for it content library. Banning the Apple TV is Amazon’s little way of further delaying/limiting the dissemination of a rival hardware/service.”
“Amazon’s ban is going to hurt sales of the Apple TV to the point that it will continue to lag behind the Fire TV. It is an intentional attack specifically against Apple TV,” Alcaraz writes. “Bezos made the ruthless preemptive strike by banning the Apple TV. He did this knowing he is risking a retaliatory ban for Amazon’s Prime Video iOS app. It is still up to Tim Cook if he will really retaliate against Amazon. Amazon has a few apps on the iTunes App Store.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: In the U.S. App Store, currently, Amazon has the following apps:
• Amazon App
• Amazon Video
• Amazon Music with Prime Music
• Amazon Local
• Kindle
• Amazon Photos
• Amazon Prime Now
• MYHABIT
• Amazon Fire TV Remote
• Amazon Alexa
• Amazon Seller
• AmazonFresh
• AWS Console
• Amazon Register
• Amazon Cloud Drive
• Amazon WorkSpaces
• Amazon WorkDocs
• Amazon Local Merchants
• Amazon AppStream Basic ClientThere’s an awful lot there currently being offered to the world’s best-heeled smartphone and tablet users that Amazon has now put at risk. Judging by the amount of apps, Amazon certainly seems to regard iOS users as very important.
So, what should Apple do, if anything? If Apple did pull any of his apps from the App Store, would itty bitty bald baby Bezos go whining back to the DOJ as he is wont to do? If so, on what basis? Apple could always point to Android’s market share (while ignoring that iOS has cornered the market on the valuable customers) to show that there is no antitrust issue. Or would it be best for Apple TV to simply beat Amazon’s offerings to a pulp all while continuing to offer Amazon’s apps via the App Store?
Regardless of what Apple does, Amazon had better be careful lest they gain and cement the reputation as “the everything store that doesn’t offer everything.”
SEE ALSO:
By banning Apple TV and Chromecast, Amazon shows what it means to be a monopolist – October 2, 2015
Amazon to ban sale of Apple TV, other streaming devices – October 1, 2015
Apple TV and voice control: What Siri does that the others don’t – September 18, 2015
With the all-new Apple TV, Apple changes the game, yet again – September 14, 2015
What Apple got right in Apple TV’s user interface – and what needs work – September 11, 2015
New Apple TV has the potential to do for television what iPhone did for mobile phones – September 11, 2015
Apple preps to conquer living room with all-new Apple TV – September 11, 2015
Hands-on with the all-new Apple TV – September 10, 2015
Gruber: Apple TV will define how all TVs will work in a few years – September 10, 2015
Apple had better not pull any amazon apps. That would be a great disservice to the many of us who use amazon and rely upon these apps.
Personally, here’s what I think could be going on: With the new Apple TV and the ability for 3rd-party apps, there must be some degree of infighting between Apple and amazon, and this is the first punch thrown by amazon. My guess is that they will make up when the new Apple TV launches with an amazon app in the app store and simultaneously amazon selling the Apple TV again.
As MDN always shoots off… Apple’s Store is Apple’s Store. They don’t have to allow you to sell your stuff there. Amazon’s store is Amazon’s. If they don’t want this product selling there, then cool. If someone has some anti-trust argument against Amazon, I have yet to hear it.
This, to me, is a good move by Amazon because Apple will likely not be able to retaliate. And that’s because Apple’s devices are only as good as the software available for it. Amazon is too strong with consumers, including Kindle and Prime… for Apple to dump those Apps.
Apple would have a backlash from customers of the iPad and iPhone if they did that. Amazon knows this. And if Bezos is such a bald little idiot, why do you MDN, and all you fanboys, give a rip about any Apple products being sold there?
Right, you just ate crow…
dswe
how lost and unaware you are… ADVICE FOR YOU… say less!
no really – you sound like a town idiot.
fanboy shit – were are you typing from, the 90’s?
Clearly he an Amazon brown noser. Indeed his nose must be looking like a Sunday after that little 2 faced self indulgent rant.
I buy all my Apple devices directly from Apple. The only reason it would be a benefit to buy elsewhere is if you don’t have a reasonably close Apple Store to be able to try things out before buying. Typically we try something out and then buy it online from Apple.
The whole Amazon thing is a non-issue. Apple ships free and more quickly than Amazon Prime from my experience.
Staples and Best Buy also sell Apple stuff. And then there are Apple resellers. So yeah, it’s usually pretty easy to buy Apple stuff locally.
“If someone has some anti-trust argument against Amazon, I have yet to hear it.”
Ok, here’s one that I think applies:
My understanding is that having a monopoly is not illegal. However, when you use your monopoly to get an unfair advantage in a different business, then that action is considered an antitrust issue. In this case, Amazon’s primary and original business is online retail. Their foray into streaming gadget making is a different business in a different category. In the new category they are up against major competition from Apple and others. So now they choose to use their monopoly in their retail business to gain an advantage in their gadget business. I think this is called abusing your monopoly and is illegal. We will see.
Thomas:
Your argument fails. One simple reason: Amazon doesn’t have a “monopoly” on retail. They don’t even have a dominant position in the “retail industry”. They’re strong, but there are tons of retailers. Remember, Amazon and Apple are global companies. Outside of the US, Amazon isn’t nearly as big and in many countries people haven’t even heard of it.
The bottom line is, unless you have researched the caselaw on anti-trust and know the laws, this conversation is a waste of time.
I agree.
What asshat starts a “conversation” then says conversation is a waste of time?
Oh, and the term is ‘case law’ you f***ing ignorant prat.
FFS:
The term is not “case law”. It can be “caselaw”, or “case-law”, etc. There is no rule in English when joining two words that they have to have a hyphen, be separate, or joined. Usage can be fashionable and depends on the location where it’s used.
Asshat.
Especially since English is partially derived from German, and in German, words are not only joined together without spaces, but many words can be joined together in that fashion.
Case law is two words, not joined together. There are actual rules to a language, and English is not German.
The question of use/abuse of Monopoly power is open to interpretation…look at Apple’s legal troubles just trying to compete with Amazon on books for an example.
In the case of Amazon, if this were a traditional brick & mortar store where they’re choosing not to stock an item, I’d be ok with that.
But as a storefront facilitator for scores of .. let’s call them ‘sub-retailer’ storefronts .. where they cross the line is when they order these sub-retailers to not sell a particular company’s products: in effect, they’re actively putting the screws on companies outside of their own…and that’s where there’s a potential abuse of market power which may very well be illegal.
I can buy audio books from Audible or iBooks. Guess where I get my books? Let’s see what happens if Apple bans the Kindle App.
Did you know that the internet still exists and that a modern web browser can do all that too?
Just as Apple pulled Pebble and other smartwatches from its store as the Apple watch was introduced, Amazon has the right to pull Apple TV.
Yes but they don’t have the right to make third party vendors pull the apple tv from there stores and that is what amazon is doing.
Pertinent point. I must also note that tit for tat applies to 2 entities retaliating against each other not against different entities altogether unrelated to each other.
I work for a major bank and file claims for customers who, among other things, complain about never signing up for AmazonPrime and then see a billing for $99.00 hit their account. I ask them if they bought anything from Amazon and agreed to free next day shipping. Almost always I receive a yes. When you agree to free shipping you get AmazonPrime for $1.00 then they start billing you $99.00. Go have a look. When you are done shopping and just want to get on with your life, rarely do you read the fine print in the same color as the background in 3 point type that says you signed up for the long term unless you call (which is next to impossible) and cancel within 1.3 nano-seconds of pressing the “I want free shipping” button.
When people do call in – having never used the service – AmazinAmazon is willing to refund 50%.
Amazon has zero morals, similar to the Do No Evil crowd.
I don’t use any services by Amazon any more after all of the complaints I have received from customers. And that, I am sure, is a small drop in the ocean comparatively.
This isn’t from a “fanboy” perspective. I’m looking at this from a business ethics point of view. No company was awarded sainthood by the Pope when he visited, so we know no miracles are being venerated. I just think that Amazon is a money sucking leech in the world. Not that I have an opinion or anything. 😉
that’s called fraud.
Amazon pulled an Apple.
Amazon is, and has ALWAYS been, on a razors edge of financial stability. Their net margin, when it exists, is like a supermarket chain. While Jobs is accused of “reality distortion” Bezos is, in fact the master at this. “No profits??”, “Pay no attention to that but look at these drones that I will deliver your toothpaste with-the FAA will have no problem with them flying all over.”
Drop AMZN apps? Don’t bother, wrestle with pigs and you get muddy.
Amazon is one of the best run companies in the world. The profit margins are razor thing because Bezos puts all the operating cash back into growth.
It is lame that he is using his store as a competitive weapon in other business areas. Reminds me of Google screwing with their search results.
I guess you could surmise from the downvotes, that Apple the “team” is more important than your needs.
I was one of the upvotes.
Short term memories happening? Amazon is the one that forced the USSA to have an onsite lawyer monitor Apple to the tune of at least $1K per day via the e-publishing snafu. Bad move, Amazon! Fooled once, shame on you. Fooled twice, shame on me.
Apple should NOT pull Amazon apps from the App Store. Is Apple then going to pull Google apps? How about Microsoft apps?
Apple is in a position, being the only App Store for the iPhone, that it has to be careful about retaliatory tactics. And Amazon’s move is simply proof that Amazon is scared and may not believe it can succeed with its streaming hardware/service against Apple’s new TV. Besides, TV is price-controlled by Apple anyway, so it’s not like people are going to find it cheaper on Amazon than other places.
Apple just needs to go trounce Amazon in the marketplace just like it did with Amazon’s Fire Phone and Fire tablets. It can be done, and really rather easily by Apple.
There are a myriad of choices when it comes to buying an Apple TV including the personal data secure Apple Store with free shipping. The Amazon story is a non issue and there’s a lot of people getting bent out of shape over nothing.
I am not a loyal Amazon customer. I take advantage of the best deal possible on products I can buy anywhere. If Amazon doesn’t have the best price, I shop elsewhere.
Saving money throughout the year makes it easier to buy cool things at premium prices from Apple.
In other words there’s no reason getting in a pissing match with Amazon. Amazon serves a purpose for the inner cheapskate that we all have.
Yup – Tit for tat ain’t where it’s at (or app)
That does it! The next time I purchase an Amazon tablet, or Fire, or the Echo, I will not buy it at an Apple store.
Oh! Wait. Apple stores don’t sell those Amazon products.
Apple never claimed to offer anything in the Apple Retail Stores beyond Apple and their partners’ wares.
Amazon.com’s mission Statement: “Our vision is to be earth’s most customer centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.”
Oh, wait! I just obliterated your facile argument with total ease.
No you didn’t. You’re a Republican simpleton with barely a brain. Must have copied and pasted from somewhere and your logic is clearly indicative of multi generational inbreeding. Now go crawl back under your rock.
?????
Please Mr. iKnow… it’s clear why Amazon is not selling Apple’s TV, but it is also clear that it is contrary to their mission statement, as posted above. That is irrefutable and logical. I think it is you that is the simpleton.
You are an idiot, why do you bring politics into this? He mentioned nothgin about politics. Moron.
See his avatar? Are you blind, stupid, or both?
you just got your ass handed to you.
Soon typical. he just clobbers the argument with logic, and you come back with insult and no merit.
Don’t forget IMDb. I’d be livid if that disappeared.
There are many ways to purchase an Apple TV, including their web site, app, store, third party electronics stores.
Apple should just ignore this. Bezos is delusional if he thinks this will hurt Apple TV sales.
Amazon is a very convenient source for buying small routine day to day stuff. However, I prefer to buy electronics either from the source or a local store where I can easily return a defective product.
There is no need for Apple to sink as low as Amazon. Apple has style and cachet.
People will buy Apple’s products if they want them, but people clearly need to be coerced into buying Amazon’s own brand products.
Sorry but this will have some impact on Apple TV sales.
I also think its bad for Amazon. As a customer of theirs I just lost a lot of respect for them.
One wonders if Apple is making it difficult for Amazon to offer the Prime Video app on the new Apple TV? As a customer for both I’d be unhappy if they did.
One wonders if you’re an Amazon astroturfer.
Is there such a thing? Really?
Why would you wonder that? There is a list of about 20 apps above that Amazon has in the iOS App Store including Prime Video that already streams to Apple TV. Not a big leap for most to assume that Anazon could write an App the the tvOS App Store.
amazon could write there own app with the new tvOS api apple does not need to write it for them.
Don’t want to sell the tv? Fine, but now you can’t sell any other Apple products either. Pull out of Amazon entirely. Let them sell all the Dells they want.
They’ll make up the difference in revenue by selling more toilet paper.
And still not make a dime.
That’s a stupid move. Apple is already seen as a control freak. We don’t need Apple doing anything else stupid with its stores. Amazon can just look bad, Apple can look innocent. Ugh people!
Sent from my iPhone
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Apple needs only to leave the Amazon Apps off the New Apple TV App store. That will knee cap Amazon.
Bezo does not want to pay Apple 15 percent for the app to Apple for each Subscription. Cheap and petty to pull the Apple products over that.
I think Amazon is going to suffer a self-delivered, PR blackeye if there are other Amazon Apps for the TV. It would undercut their basic argument that there is an issue with the TV.
Isn’t Amazon refusing to sell Chrome hardware also? My concern, their saying that their aps only work well with Amazon hardware. That would be stupid. And why would I buy an Apple TV from Amazon instead of Apple anyway? Who cares?
You wouldn’t buy the new Apple TV from Amazon, but newbs might. Amazon has a similar products section and if people were searching for a streaming box or the Fire TV they would be shown the new Apple TV. The consumer would then look at the reviews and discover the new Apple TV is far superior to Amazon’s products because of various reasons such as the Apple TV can mirror the screen from an Apple computer or mobile device, it has better voice search, there are more app choices, the new Apple TV remote can be used as a motion controller, etc.
Amazon sells their own tablets, but they also sell iPads, so banning the new Apple TV seems suspicious. Maybe they extract better data from it, resulting in more accurate user profiles, or maybe they will be including a camera in future Fire TV’s and will be using that to spy on people, etc.
Amazin (like eBay) hasn’t offered the best price for a long, long while …
Use an app like idealo and you’ll see that Amazin is nowhere near as cheap as they are supposed to be.
Amazon also includes a lot of boobytrap items for sale. Items that are so outrageously high priced that it makes you scratch your head. Amazon must be hoping that you just click on the buy button without looking at the price. I know a lot of people who do just that.
Perchance is this the same Amazon that sends people to freeload in brick & mortar stores with scanners to check out products and then buy them through Amazon? Bezos is an odiferous idle-headed dewberry!
It is NOT in Apple’s best interest to be seen stooping as low as Amazon by banning their apps.
And it is NOT in Amazon’s best interest to ban the Apple TV. It is a stupid decision made by bonehead managers that don’t realize how much the public’s view of Amazon is going to be hurt by this amateur move.
The DOJ will send BOZO a Stamp of Approval.
Apple should pull al, of their hardware from Amazon so that you can’t get any Apple products at Amazon.
target.com
B&H Photo😄
To Apple big guys, is time to leave this crapy company Amazon which is only think in money the owner just has big time napoleon complex.
Apple corporation no need this ….
Wow Jeff is mad lol….
What reaction like little teenager lol
Time to block Amazon…
From the article…
“Apple’s decision to release a console gaming iOS TV device and its ambition to become a streaming video service provider are seen as threats by Amazon. Bezos therefore promptly exercised his prerogative to eliminate current and upcoming threats to Amazon.”
—–
This is an odd statement, seeing as how both Apple and Amazon began streaming/selling movies at roughly the same time: 2006. How can Alcarez refer to, “Apple’s… ambition to become a streaming video service provider…” like it is the trigger event for Bezo’s actions when it took place almost a decade ago? How can he follow that with “Bezos therefore promptly exercised his prerogative…”? I don’t think anyone can consider a 9 years delay in taking this action as “prompt.” How can anyone take Alcarez’s conclusions seriously when his premise is so flawed?
This is assanine… This has nothing to do with apps. Apple stores don’t carry Amazin fire TV or Amazon Fire sticks and will never allow them so why would Amazon allow the Apple TV device in their retail store?
I don’t think Apple gives a rat’s ass about this. It’s not likely to have much effect on sales. It will simply mean more money for Amazon’s competitors and the Apple store.
I don’t think Apple would be that small. Too bad for Amazon.
I don’t get all the whining. Apple doesn’t sell Amazon Video nor does it sell Amazon’s Fire TV. Why should Amazon have to sell an Apple TV if it doesn’t support Amazon Video?
Its a free country, you can buy an Apple TV online at Apple or in an Apple Store to say nothing of Best Buy.
A bunch of noise and nonsense by people wasting time!
Nobody has thought that Amazon just pulled off the TV of the store in advance of the new one? And that they will sell ONLY the new one?
Unlikely. Apple will continue selling the current model for $69 because it’s much less expensive yet still has a lot of useful applications.
A part of me says that Apple should retaliate and yank Amazon’s apps, but another part of me says that Apple should rise above this bullshit, and continue to offer Amazon’s apps. I think that Amazon will eventually cave and start selling Apple TV again after they notice that no one really wants their stuff anyway. I have two Apple TVs in my home, and when Apple TV 4 is released, I will have three. I’m not even interested in taking a look at Amazon’s offerings because I’m perfectly satisfied with Apple TV.