Amazon Cloud Player and iPhone - why does Amazon block it?

[pm]

I bought a new album through Amazon today - I buy nearly all of my music through Amazon - and they sent me an email saying that I qualified for a one year trial of the 20GB cloud player. So I go on my computer and check it out and decide that it's neat and upload a bunch of music. So I go there on my iPhone and discover that they blocked it - if you are using Mobile Safari, you can't go to the site. I knew this before from reading it, but it's another thing to try it and see that it's blocked when I have music that I paid for in the system.

So I used another browser on my iPhone which defaults to externally telling sites it's "Mobile Safari" and couldn't get there, then I changed the browser tag on my iPhone browser to Firefox and it worked fine and now I can use the Amazon Cloud on my iPhone... but why did they do this? There's clearly no technical reason. Are they trying to convince people to sell their iPhone and buy an Android phone to use the Amazon Cloud? I've been trying to figure out what business reason Amazon would have for blocking so many users.... it seems like a weird business decision.

 

[Oyeve]

I bet its Apple rather than Amazon making that call.

 

[pm]

I bet its Apple rather than Amazon making that call.

How do you figure? When you go to the website on an iPhone with your browser tag set to "Mobile Safari" it says "your browser is not supported". Change your browser tag and it works... That seems to say that Amazon is blocking it...?

 

[Glitchny]

Amazon/Apple is probably blocking it as it is a "Subscription Service" and Amazon doesn't want to have to pay apple part of the $$. Or they are trying to increase the value of their Android offereings. Could also be because it is highly integrated with the MP3 Store and Apple wouldn't be happy with them taking music sales?

 

[uli2000]

Doesn't it use Flash? If so, well, there's your answer.

 

[Red Storm]

If it used Flash you wouldn't be able to use it on an iPhone period, regardless of what you identify your browser as.

 

[gorcorps]

My first thought was Apple as well. I believe certain signatures are needed in order to play nice with a browser, and if Apple thinks it'll hurt their itunes sales I can see them not letting Amazon use them. Firefox is open source however so anybody can do stuff with that pretty much.

I'm not sure how it all works, but it makes so little sense for Amazon to block it that I don't think they would. I'm sure they'd do whatever they could to take some sales away from iTunes. Yes they have more ties to Android with their market now, but still... I don't see it as being an Amazon thing.

Actually up until the last version of the cloud MP3 player app, my rooted Nook was blocked as well. It was just updated though and it works now, though quite slow.

 

[uli2000]

If it used Flash you wouldn't be able to use it on an iPhone period, regardless of what you identify your browser as.

Yeah, I realized that after I posted. The AC is out in my office today. I'm not thinking very well.

 

[pm]

Amazon/Apple is probably blocking it as it is a "Subscription Service" and Amazon doesn't want to have to pay apple part of the $$. Or they are trying to increase the value of their Android offereings. Could also be because it is highly integrated with the MP3 Store and Apple wouldn't be happy with them taking music sales?

I thought the subscription thing was for subscriptions for apps...? But something related to the TOS and Amazon's iPhone app makes some sense.. More sense than anything else that I can think of.

Doesn't it use Flash? If so, well, there's your answer.

As Red pointed out, I can get it working with a browser tag change. It apparently uses a lot of Javascript.

My first thought was Apple as well. I believe certain signatures are needed in order to play nice with a browser, and if Apple thinks it'll hurt their itunes sales I can see them not letting Amazon use them. Firefox is open source however so anybody can do stuff with that pretty much.

I'm not sure how it all works, but it makes so little sense for Amazon to block it that I don't think they would. I'm sure they'd do whatever they could to take some sales away from iTunes. Yes they have more ties to Android with their market now, but still... I don't see it as being an Amazon thing.

Well, I'm sure it's not just an Amazon thing. It's an Amazon-Apple thing. But I still don't see a good reason why Amazon wouldn't enable it, and I don't see why Apple could stop it... if they are stopping it. And the whole "this browser is not supported" webpage on the Amazon website is wierd and seems to aim me at Amazon.

Actually up until the last version of the cloud MP3 player app, my rooted Nook was blocked as well. It was just updated though and it works now, though quite slow.

I wonder if it's because the browser tag says it's a Nook.

 

[frostedflakes]

Doesn't it use Flash? If so, well, there's your answer.

Bingo. Thank Jobs for deciding that you don't need flash on your mobile browser.

Don't know why they haven't released a Cloud Player app for iOS, though. There's one available for Android.

edit: You can browse your library without flash, but I'm pretty sure the player requires it. I use the Flashblock addon on my laptop and the Cloud Player does not work with flash applets blocked, I have to whitelist amazon.com for music to play.

 

[OrionAntares]

It even throws an error message saying you need Flash to use the player.

Did the OP have a jailbreak with flash installed?

 

[pm]

Bingo. Thank Jobs for deciding that you don't need flash on your mobile browser.

Don't know why they haven't released a Cloud Player app for iOS, though. There's one available for Android.

edit: You can browse your library without flash, but I'm pretty sure the player requires it. I use the Flashblock addon on my laptop and the Cloud Player does not work with flash applets blocked, I have to whitelist amazon.com for music to play.

Yeah, the Flash thing is confusing me now.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200593970

It says it's "optimized to use Flash" and isn't optimized to work on mobile devices. So I'd say you are right, but I can use it on an iPhone as long as I change browsers. It's sluggish, but it works. Maybe it's Safari...?

It even throws an error message saying you need Flash to use the player.

Did the OP have a jailbreak with flash installed?

No, no jailbreaking. <shrug> I'm confused now too. Trying it again right now.

Edit: ok, my 3G connection is too bad to do it right now. I'll check it out in an hour or so when I'm home.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

My first guess would be the current version of it doesn't play well with safari so they blocked it until they could get one that was up to par with their standards, but who knows maybe they're just dicks.

 

[pm]

My first guess would be the current version of it doesn't play well with safari so they blocked it until they could get one that was up to par with their standards, but who knows maybe they're just dicks.

I've always ascribed to Hanlon's Razor:
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explain by incompetence."

So I'll go with the first proposed explanation. That would make sense.

 

[Oyeve]

I've always ascribed to Hanlon's Razor:
"Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explain by incompetence."

So I'll go with the first proposed explanation. That would make sense.

I concur.

 

[Red Storm]

It even throws an error message saying you need Flash to use the player.

Did the OP have a jailbreak with flash installed?

Show me this (working) flash on jailbroken iDevices, please.

 

[Dulanic]

I'd be very surprised to see Apple ever allow it. It directly competes with iTunes. Any other company would get slapped with a lawsuit for anti-competitive behavior. I understand why Amazon doesn't call out or blame Apple for this... Amazon likely makes a killing selling Apple products. However, overall Apple has no benefit to allowing this and Amazon has no benefit for not allowing it. That to me would more put this towards Apple.

It's actually rather ironic that not but a year ago Google was calling out Apple on their anti-competitive behaviors like blocking AdMob.

 

[gorcorps]

I'd be very surprised to see Apple ever allow it. It directly competes with iTunes. Any other company would get slapped with a lawsuit for anti-competitive behavior. I understand why Amazon doesn't call out or blame Apple for this... Amazon likely makes a killing selling Apple products. However, overall Apple has no benefit to allowing this and Amazon has no benefit for not allowing it. That to me would more put this towards Apple.

It's actually rather ironic that not but a year ago Google was calling out Apple on their anti-competitive behaviors like blocking AdMob.

:hmm: Not sure what's ironic about that... this involves Amazon, not Google.

Two separate companies, just FYI

 

[Dulanic]

:hmm: Not sure what's ironic about that... this involves Amazon, not Google.

Two separate companies, just FYI

Just saying, same principle. I believe the reason Amazon MP3 and Amazon Cloud doesn't exist on iPhone is purely on behalf of Apple and it's anti competitive behavior. Probably wrong wording on my behalf tho

 

[TheStu]

I'd be very surprised to see Apple ever allow it. It directly competes with iTunes. Any other company would get slapped with a lawsuit for anti-competitive behavior. I understand why Amazon doesn't call out or blame Apple for this... Amazon likely makes a killing selling Apple products. However, overall Apple has no benefit to allowing this and Amazon has no benefit for not allowing it. That to me would more put this towards Apple.

It's actually rather ironic that not but a year ago Google was calling out Apple on their anti-competitive behaviors like blocking AdMob.

They didn't kick Amazon out of the App Store when they released iBooks.

Amazon might be blocking it because it runs poorly and they are waiting for their player app to get approved.

Apple might be blocking it because it runs poorly.

They both might be blocking it to be mean and cruel. Also, they might kick puppies.

 

[gorcorps]

Just saying, same principle. I believe the reason Amazon MP3 and Amazon Cloud doesn't exist on iPhone is purely on behalf of Apple and it's anti competitive behavior. Probably wrong wording on my behalf tho

Could be. It's hard to say, as they allow similar things like Pandora into the app store. Grooveshark was there for a bit but then got banned. Apple is all over the place with their rules and access. It's frustrating.

 

[OrionAntares]

Just saying, same principle. I believe the reason Amazon MP3 and Amazon Cloud doesn't exist on iPhone is purely on behalf of Apple and it's anti competitive behavior. Probably wrong wording on my behalf tho

Well that's why it's not in the app store. I'm sure Amazon is working on getting it to play nice with mobile browsers. They probably are blocking it right now because it wasn't ready for when they wanted to go live with it.

They didn't kick Amazon out of the App Store when they released iBooks.

Amazon might be blocking it because it runs poorly and they are waiting for their player app to get approved.

Apple might be blocking it because it runs poorly.

They both might be blocking it to be mean and cruel. Also, they might kick puppies.

If they had kicked a long standing app out of their app store because they released a competing product they would have been slapped with an anti-trust suit so fast their heads would be spinning. Apple knows the fine line and they walk it as much as they thing they can get away with and dial back as soon as it looks like they can't.

Also, Apple isn't blocking the site. The site is setup to redirect if it reads the mobile safari string. That's setup by Amazon and likely because it's not running well right now.

Could be. It's hard to say, as they allow similar things like Pandora into the app store. Grooveshark was there for a bit but then got banned. Apple is all over the place with their rules and access. It's frustrating.

Right now Pandora offers a good lead-in for them. It's semi-random in what music can play and if you want to purchase the song there's a direct link to iTunes for it. Having Pandora on iOS is very advantageous to Apple and is likely to remain so even after they launch their own rumored cloud music service.

 

[uli2000]

Looks like Amazon and Safari are playing nice now:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/05/07/amazon-cloud-player-streams-tunes-to-ios-following-silent-updat/

 

[speg]

So much bad information in this thread...

 

[Dulanic]

So much bad information in this thread...

And a few useless posts that are just an attempt to troll.