David Farnor | On 06, Jun 2017

Amazon Prime Video is officially coming to Apple TV.

Amazon and Apple have long had their differences, as the two competitors try to establish their own dominance in the rapidly growing online streaming arena. Both have their own streaming devices – Apple TV and Fire TV – and both also have their own streaming platforms, whether that’s Apple TV’s interface, which collates VOD services and channels into one operating system, or Amazon’s Prime Video subscription service. With Amazon Video also offering its own Amazon Channels service, which lets users pick and choose VOD services to use and subscribe too, though, they have become increasingly more direct rivals.

In 2015, Amazon stopped selling Apple TV devices, as well as banning third-party stores rom using its site to sell Apple TV. (Google Chromecast was also banned from the online shop.) Amazon also refused to provide its Amazon Video app to Apple TV, despite Apple saying that all would be welcome.

Now, however, Amazon and Apple are officially putting aside their issues. Speaking at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference last night CEO Tim Cook began the event by confirming that Apple TV would support Amazon Video later this year.

“Today we are thrilled to announce that Amazon is coming to the TV app and all Apple TVs later this year,” he said. “As you know, Prime Video proves a wealth of great content like Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, The Man in the High Castle… We are so pleased to welcome Amazon to Apple TV.”

The announcement comes as Apple TV has grown its library of apps to around 50 partners, including hulu, Netflix and Showtime (the latter one of the providers through Amazon Channels in the US). Whether the Amazon Video app on Apple TV will include Amazon Channels, or whether it will just be Amazon Prime Video, is not yet confirmed, and there is no sign of whether this will eventually lead to iTunes being available on Fire TV. What it will certainly mean, though, is that Amazon Prime Video will be available on all streaming devices except for Chromecast. Watch this space for more details and an official release date.

 

Amazon Video app on the way to Apple TV?

29th November 2015

Amazon Video may be on the way to Apple TV, if one reported conversation with Amazon’s technical team is true.

Dan Bostonweeks, a Lead iOS Engineer at Madefire in California, tweeted that he provided feedback to Amazon via the VOD service’s iOS app, only for them to get back in touch with him and reveal that they are “currently working [on] developing a new app for the Apple TV”.

His claims are currently unconfirmed, but the move would be a big step for Amazon, which has previously not made its service available on any third party devices: the company has instead focused on its own Fire TV Box and Stick, using the exclusivity of having both Prime Video and Netflix to drive sales. It’s a tactic reminiscent of Apple’s own attitude, as both tech giants are keen to bring customers into their ecosystems: just like iTunes, Amazon also offers pay-per-view titles to buy and rent, which means both benefit from driving people to their storefronts.

I sent feedback to Amazon via the Amazon Instant Video iOS app about supporting tvOS. They say it’s in development. pic.twitter.com/52fYUgtgNs

— Dan Bostonweeks (@danimal) November 28, 2015

But that could be able to change, of Amazon’s app does arrive on Apple TV. Only this month, Amazon launched its app on Roku, a sign that the firm is already rethinking its approach: Amazon’s SVOD service also needs to build an audience of subscribers, an aim that will always be limited by the platform’s availability. Indeed, Netflix is available on all of the devices it can be, something that has helped to increase the streaming site’s lead on its rival. Now that Amazon has established Fire TV as a contender in the hardware race, it is looking to close that gap by starting to target owners of other devices.

The news also follows the launch of the new Apple TV, which Apple says is open to any apps. Apple told BuzzFeed News that “all are welcome” on its platform.

According to Amazon’s reported representative, “within a few weeks span you will be able to see the Amazon Instant Video app feature on your Apple TV”.

If that is true, by the time Transparent Season 2 has landed on Friday 11th December, Amazon Video will be available on Apple TV as well iOS devices, not to mention Android, Roku, PS3 and PS4 consoles, the Xbox 360 and Xbox One, Nintendo’s Wii and Wii U, some TV and Blu-ray players, and, of course, Fire OS devices, including Fire TV.

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