Amazon Prime members wanting to watch their included movies and TV shows on an Apple TV have so far had to rely on clunky workarounds, like AirPlaying the content from another Apple device. All that appears set to change as it’s reported that the Amazon Video app will be coming to Apple TV by the fall …
Recode says that while it’s not yet a done deal, the two companies are close to agreeing terms.
The tech giants, who are increasingly competing for customers’ time, eyeballs and money, are close to an agreement to bring an Amazon video app to Apple’s Apple TV set-top box, according to people familiar with the two companies.
Amazon employees expect the app to show up on Apple’s hardware in the third quarter of the year.
Amazon had something of a falling out with Apple over the cut it takes from in-app purchases, which would have meant Apple taking a slice of rentals and purchases from the (many) movies and TV shows not included in the Prime deal.
While an Amazon video app exists for Apple iOS devices, it’s a crippled version of the app, which doesn’t allow users to buy or rent individual programs without visiting Amazon first.
As retaliation against Apple, Amazon stopped selling Apple TV boxes on its website back in 2015. A search for Apple TV finds mostly accessories and competitor products, though a few third-party sales do slip through. Jeff Bezos stated that the reason for this was because Apple wasn’t offering ‘acceptable business terms.’
We want our player, our Prime Video player, to be on the device, and we want it to be on the device with acceptable business terms. And so, you can always get the player on the device; the question is can you do so with acceptable business terms. And if you can’t, then we don’t want to sell it to our customers, because they’re going to be buying it thinking they can watch Prime Video and then they’re going to be disappointed. And they’re going to return it.
It’s believed that a deal could only have been reached at a high level, possibly through talks between Tim Cook and Jeff Bezos personally.
Photo: Engadget
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