At the beginning of December, Google made a nasty move against Amazon by announcing that it'd be removing YouTube from the Echo Show (for the second time) and Fire TV as the latest move in the endless dispute between the two companies. According to the sharp eyes at TV Answer Man, Amazon filed for two trademarks that very same day for something rather interesting.
The two trademarks are titled as "Amazontube" and "Opentube," and both services would provide "non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks." Content would range from tech, fashion, gaming, etc., and these services would allow "users to share content, photos, videos, text, data, images, and other electronic works."
In other words, it sounds like Amazon is playing around with the idea of launching a YouTube competitor.
What could Amazon offer to make people switch from YouTube?
It is interesting to think about what Amazon's take on YouTube might look like, but the likelihood of Amazon following through with this is pretty slim.
On the one hand, we've seen other companies try to mimic YouTube's formula and not see much success at all. YouTube's hold on the video-sharing market is pretty much unstoppable right now, and while we're all for more competition, that's a battle that'd prove to be difficult even for a company like Amazon.
Along with that, Google might not have to follow through with its decision to remove YouTube from the Echo Show and Fire TV after all. The spokeswoman that made the announcement said Google chose to do this as a result of Amazon not selling Google's hardware, but just recently, Amazon said it'd once again start selling the Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra. It remains to be seen if this is enough to keep Google from pulling the plug on YouTube from Amazon's devices, but it is encouraging to see Amazon try to create some peace between the two.
Just in case we do one day see an Amazontube, though, what features would it have to offer for you to use it over YouTube?
Amazon will once again sell Chromecast and Apple TV
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