Amazon Reportedly Considering YouTube Rival Following Public Spat With Google
Given that the current truce between Google and Amazon could end at any time, it should come as no surprise that a potential rival service from Amazon has been unearthed. News of this Amazon venture comes courtesy of TV Answer Man, which discovered trademark requests for AmazonTube and OpenTube. While AmazonTube is the most viable name in our humble opinion, both have a “knock-off” sound to them given how ubiquitous YouTube has become over the past decade.
In the filings, both services appear to be quite similar to YouTube, with Amazon writing, that each would deliver "non-downloadable pre-recorded audio, visual and audiovisual works via wireless networks on a variety of topics”. The YouTube comparisons don't end there, however, as the filing adds that the services "enable users to share content, photos videos, text, data, images and other electronic works relating to entertainment, including, movies, television, audiovisual works, music, [etc.]".
If you need any further proof of Amazon's seriousness about this venture, Domain Name Wire reported earlier this month that Amazon registered the following domain names:
AlexaOpenTube.com
AmazonAlexaTube.com
AmazonOpenTube.com
Where there's smoke, there's fire. Amazon's most recent tussle with Google came to an end when the online retailer announced that it would resume sales of the Google Chromecast and Chromecast Ultra (and the Apple TV). Amazon banned the devices from its online marketplace in 2015, stating, "It’s important that the streaming media players we sell interact well with Prime Video in order to avoid customer confusion."