Amazon Axing Apple, Google Devices Could Cost Them Millions

Amazon made a bold move earlier this month when it removed devices from its marketplace that don’t work with Prime Video.

What that really meant was saying goodbye to Apple TV and Google Chromecast — two devices that compete against Amazon’s media streaming services and its Amazon Fire TV. At the time, some analysts questioned the move, saying it could hurt Amazon as much as it hurt the other companies.

“This has the potential to hurt Amazon as much as it does Apple and Google,” Barbara Kraus, an analyst at Parks Associates, told Bloomberg. “As a retailer, I want to give people a reason to come to me. When I take out best-selling brands, I take away those reasons.”

Well, a new report from 1010data’s eCom Insights panel suggests that the move could actually cost Apple and Google millions. The report indicated that Amazon was selling roughly $25 million in Apple TV devices and $60 million in Google’s Chromecast streaming device. That means that Amazon was pumping out a majority of the sales for Apple TV (60 percent) and Chromecast (90 percent), according to the report.

The analysis also projects that Google and Apple could lose somewhere around $100 million in combined revenue that came from advertising as a result of sales from those devices. Of course, Amazon isn’t the only place where Apple TV and Google Chromecast are available (the companies sell them themselves for the same cost Amazon did), but as research shows, shoppers often start on Amazon when beginning their online journey.

To explain the results from 1010data’s report, Samir Bhavnani, the area VP for the company, gave some insight.

“The data for the study came from our analysts’ study of 1010data’s eCom Insights panel that consists of millions of online shoppers who allow 1010data to anonymously track their online behavior for market research. The research is focused on the top 100 online mass retailers in the U.S.,” he told VentureBeat.

He also gave his perspective on why Amazon made this move.

“The reality is that Amazon, Apple and Google are frenemies,” Bhavnani said.“Each relies on the other for customers and supports the others platforms to varying degrees. This move by Amazon helps its odds of winning the long-term benefit of access to customers televisions, while offering customers the best ‘Amazon Experience.’”

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