Amazon Prime Video for tvOS will be announced at WWDC, Apple TV returning to Amazon.com

AppleInsider

In exchange for Apple bringing the Amazon Prime Video app to tvOS, Amazon will reportedly return the favor and begin sales of the Apple TV hardware via its online storefront, and the changes could come as soon as next month's WWDC.

Citing unnamed sources, John Paczkowski of Buzzfeed reported on Thursday that the Amazon Prime streaming video service will, in fact, come to the tvOS App Store this summer. The partnership is expected to be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote on June 5.

Word of Amazon Prime Video coming to Apple TV first leaked last week, in a report that said Amazon and Apple were close to finalizing a deal. Until now, Apple users wanting to watch Amazon Prime Video and other streaming content have needed to rely on Amazon's iOS app, which includes AirPlay support.

A dedicated tvOS app will allow users to navigate to Amazon content directly from the Apple TV, and could even integrate with services like Siri.

In exchange, Amazon will reportedly begin selling the Apple TV in its online store once again. The Apple TV was pulled from Amazon.com in October of 2015, along with Google's Chromecast hardware, citing potential customer confusion over which streaming devices support Amazon Prime Video.

While Amazon Prime Video has been a conspicuous absence from tvOS, the online retailer has been happy to sell customers its own Fire TV streaming devices, which compete with the Apple TV.

A year ago, Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said Prime Video would remain off of devices that compete with its own Fire TV products until an acceptable financial model could be agreed upon. It's unclear what, exactly, bridged the gap between Apple and Amazon to mend their differences.

Amazon has made a name for itself in the original content business, winning an Emmy in 2015 for its show "Transparent," starring Jeffrey Tambor. The online retailer has also expanded into film, distributing the film "Manchester by the Sea" under its Amazon Studios business last year. The Casey Affleck movie won Oscars for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.

Metriacanthosaurus

Well there is no better stage in the world to get your App announced than at WWDC, so I'm sure that played into the negotiation.

spacekid

Yea! At Christmas time when visiting relatives, I had brought my AppleTV along but couldn't watch an Amazon video directly. Had to mirror my laptop which sometimes drops out.

lkrupp

Would like to be a fly on the wall to find out what kind of deal Bezos and Cook worked out. The first sentence of this article implies that it was Apple who banned the Prime App first and Amazon responded by banning sales of the Apple TV. Is that true or is AppleInsider full of hot air? As for theories about Apple’s App Store hosting prices (30% cut and so forth) that doesn’t hold water because an iOS app has existed all this time, just not on the Apple TV. Some professional journalist should dig deep on this ands find out what’s really going on.

mike1

I've mentioned before, but I hope that there is an "app" for the ATV3 as well.

hmurchison

I think it's pretty clear that Amazon pulled the device and tried to push Fire device sales. 

mattgodfrey

I hope this announcement happens alongside a new 4K Apple TV

lkrupp

Could there be a pricing war in the offing? Forget Prime for the moment. New movie becomes available on iTunes and Amazon. Apple wants $5.99 to rent it, Amazon wants $4.99. Who should I rent from? Or do the movie companies dictate the rental and purchase prices? Could this become another eBook fiasco? Or have Apple and Amazon agreed to collude on pricing? What a can of worms this could open.

alandail

lkrupp said:

Would like to be a fly on the wall to find out what kind of deal Bezos and Cook worked out. The first sentence of this article implies that it was Apple who banned the Prime App first and Amazon responded by banning sales of the Apple TV. Is that true or is AppleInsider full of hot air? As for theories about Apple’s App Store hosting prices (30% cut and so forth) that doesn’t hold water because an iOS app has existed all this time, just not on the Apple TV. Some professional journalist should dig deep on this ands find out what’s really going on.

My guess is the issue was Apple taking a cut if someone buys a video from Amazon Prime.  Hopefully Vudu is also coming.

hmurchison

I think Apple's likely to renegotiate streaming fees in order to woo as many providers as possible. 

They probably don't care that much about rentals.  Their eyes are more on services outside of the media 
realm 

Metriacanthosaurus

hmurchison said:

I think it's pretty clear that Amazon pulled the device and tried to push Fire device sales. 

According to Bezos, they thought if they sold it without Prime Video on it, people would return it when they found out.

LOL!

schlack

Will be great. But hard to see the value proposition for a $150+ AppleTV with excellent $35 streamers like Amazon Fire TV or support from Xbox One.

lkrupp

schlack said:

Will be great. But hard to see the value proposition for a $150+ AppleTV with excellent $35 streamers like Amazon Fire TV or support from Xbox One.

Boy, talk about not getting it.

spliff monkey

Good to see them finally working out an agreement. Having choices is just good for the end user. I have amazon on my tv, but barely use it just because of the terrible interface. I have yet to latch onto any amazon content despite the fact they even have Top Gear which was a long standing favorite of mine. A native iOS app would definitely increase my use of APTV. 

sockrolid

One word: "détente".

StrangeDays

lkrupp said:

The first sentence of this article implies that it was Apple who banned the Prime App first and Amazon responded by banning sales of the Apple TV. Is that true or is AppleInsider full of hot air? 

Yes i'd like also to know where AI got that narrative from. No facts in the story back it up. 

StrangeDays

schlack said:

Will be great. But hard to see the value proposition for a $150+ AppleTV with excellent $35 streamers like Amazon Fire TV or support from Xbox One.

The iOS ecosystem, for starters. Apps. Games. Apps that share functionality with my iOS apps. AirPlay. Unified search. Siri/voice control. A great interface. Swipe-scrubbing. the TV app. single sign on. Apple Music support, itunes library, etc etc...

Your cheap streamer is like a netbook. Yes, it's cheaper. No, it's not better. 

brucemc

mattgodfrey said:

I hope this announcement happens alongside a new 4K Apple TV

I was a strong defender of the 4th gen ATV not needing 4K, for many reasons (H.265 licensing, content availability, 4K TV installed base, b/w requirements, HDR being very new, etc...).  However, 2 years on, and many of those issues are getting solved, so I certainly think Apple should do 4K now.  Generally, Apple like to time these things across multiple parts of the ecosystem to make a big splash - iTunes content in 4K, apps to make use of 4K, airplay support 4K from iOS devices, 4K support on new iOS devices, etc.

While there is lots of criticism to Cook's statement that "the future of TV is apps" - I originally thought it was weak myself - I am starting to think it is the right strategy given the state of the marketplace.  The majority of TV viewing is still with the old-school pay-tv services of cable/satellite/telco, but cord cutting is really accelerating.  At the same time, a vary diverse set of services have sprung up, more every month, each taking a slice of the market.  Netflix is the biggest on the block, Amazon is rising, but still another handful of services in any market.  In this context of multiple services, being the best "platform" is a way to provide value for Apple, rather than trying to develop its own video streaming service (I have commented before on how iTunes could play a bigger role though).

Something important to consider - beyond ATV, Apple already produce the most used premium video streaming devices - iPhones and iPads - about 250M/year.  Many times more video is watched on these devices vs. ATVs (and ever would be).  Apple really needs to make this part of the video narrative and above "platform" play, blending features of tvOS with iOS where it makes sense (like in the TV app, as they have done).  

supadav03

As a prime subscriber & ATV owner, im happy to hear this. Not a huge deal, as Amazon only has a few original shows I want to watch. Most of the other content I never look at. But still, nice to have more options and everything in one place. 

kendog52404

Something to consider is if this is effectively a shadow announcement of a new 4K ATV, or at least one which supports HEVC.  The reason I'm saying that is Amazon apparently announced a while ago, that they were switching the HEVC for all of their video streams, not just the 4K, but the SD and HD ones as well, whether it's Amazon Prime Video or not.  While I haven't heard anything since then, and don't have a link in front of me, it does cause me at least, to wonder.

steinm88299

Glad this is getting resolved. Airplay for Amazon Video wasn't great. Kept a Roku connected just for Amazon shows when I wanted to watch them.