For far too long, Google’s Chromecast and Amazon’s Fire TV devices have each had a significant flaw: neither could use the competitor’s streaming service. No Prime Video on the Chromecast, no YouTube on the Fire TV. Now, thanks to a hard-won truce between Google and Amazon, the battle is over and both gadgets will benefit.
The streaming slapfight dates back to 2015, when Amazon stopped selling Google’s streaming devices on its website, which lead to a back-and-forth escalation that ultimately lead to the stalemate of incompatibility. Now, after an announcement earlier this year, the thaw has finally arrived and both devices support the services they’ve been missing.
The result is that Google’s $35 third-generation Chromecast and Amazon’s $40 1080p Fire Stick are now effectively do-it-all devices, though the $30 Roku Express still has both beat on price. (For 4K compatibility, Google’s offering is $69, Amazon’s is $50 and Roku’s is $40.)
The fight isn’t totally over yet, because the dueling streaming services still aren’t available for a few of their competitors’ smart devices, namely the Google Home Hub and Amazon Echo Show. But this is progress.
