In the perfect response to the Amazon-Google competition, Amazon Fire TV now can now use Firefox. Following a feud over the rights to stream Youtube videos on Amazon Fire TV, Mozilla has just announced that they will now make their browser available on Amazon Fire devices.
Firefox developers have just recently released their newest (and fastest version) of the browser back in November, which is great for Amazon Fire users! The company specifically said that “Once installed, you can launch popular video websites, like YouTube, load any website address, and search the web for videos to play full screen on the Amazon Fire TV and Fire TV Stick.”
Why did it come to this though? Google was essentially withholding Youtube viewing rights in response to a decision that Amazon made over two years ago. When Amazon decided to pull Chromecast devices from their store, they started a feud that nearly stripped Youtube from Amazon devices starting January first!
Fortunately, this will no longer be a problem as Mozilla has already offered a solution. Although it is not as easy as using an app directly such as the case on the Apple TV, streaming isn’t a problem when that is the only option.
For the time being, Amazon and Google have publicly announced that they are in the middle of “productive talks” that may very well be able to end the battle after all. Amazon has even reintroduced Chrome and Nest products in what appears to be an olive branch.
Until everything is solved, we will just have to wait and see how things work out and hope that we won’t be the ones suffering.