Over the past few months, plenty of companies have announced and launched Google Assistant-enabled speakers. Like the Sony LF-S50G, JBL’s LINK series, and Anker will soon be launching its Zolo Mojo Google Assistant Speaker. However, one thing that all of these have in common is the fact that they will not be sold on Amazon’s website.
This issue is likely extending from when Amazon blocked Chromecast, Android TV and Apple TV’s from being sold on its site (although it has made up with Apple and the Apple TV is back on Amazon’s website, interestingly enough Android TV boxes like the NVIDIA SHIELD TV are there, but not Chromecast still), which was all about how Chromecast doesn’t have Amazon’s Prime Video app installed by default – when actually it has zero apps installed by default, as they are all installed on your smartphone. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos explained the decision to drop Chromecast back in 2016 after dropping it in 2015.
It appears that the reason that Amazon is not selling items like the Anker Zolo Mojo, Google Home, Google Home Mini or the JBL LINK 300, is all due to the agreement that it was not able to come to with Google. Which is a bad deal for consumers. But it’s a good thing for Amazon, as it is able to push its own personal assistant-enabled products a bit more, like the Echo, Echo Spot, Echo Show and many others. Which do have a leg up, already, on Google Assistant, with it working with more smart home products and having plenty more skills than the Google Assistant has. We have reached out to Amazon for a comment on this, but they have not yet gotten back to us. We’ll be sure to update this story when and if they get back to us.
There is one Google Assistant product that is available on Amazon, and that’s the Bose QuietComfort 35 II headphones. However, if you check out the description and the entire product page for the QC35 II’s, you’ll notice that there is zero mention about the Google Assistant. If you scroll down on the page to the “Product Description” you’ll see that it mentions that you can use the microphone with your phone’s personal assistant, but the Google Assistant still is not mentioned: “The built-in microphone also gives you easy access to your phone’s default virtual assistant, like Siri.” So it appears that Bose was able to get around the issue with Google and Amazon, by neglecting to mention the Assistant.
You may also be thinking, but Google Assistant-compatible smart home products are sold on Amazon? And that is true. The Nest Learning Thermostat, Nest Cam, Nanoleaf Aurora, LIFX smart bulbs and many other products are sold on Amazon that work with the Google Assistant. However, they also work with Amazon Alexa, so there’s little reason for Amazon to block that. That is also the case for the Sonos One that launches tomorrow. It’s an Amazon Alexa speaker, that will get the Google Assistant next year, but since it works with both personal assistants, Amazon won’t block it.
This is a topic that likely won’t get a whole lot of attention, but it really should. It’s going to cost Google quite a bit of sales of its Assistant speakers, seeing as most people search Amazon for something to buy rather than searching Google. And if you search “Google Assistant” on Amazon, the very first product to appear is the Amazon Echo Dot – and that is likely no coincidence. This could end up a big deal for Amazon, where it is essentially blocking a competitor in Google Assistant, from competing directly with its personal assistant, Alexa. Hopefully Google and Amazon can come to terms on some sort of deal to where Google Assistant products can be sold on its store once again.