Amazon Prime Video Coming To Apple TV, Apple To Announce At WWDC 2017

Apple will announce Amazon’s Prime Video app will come to the Apple TV at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference on June 5, Buzzfeed News reported.

With the Prime Video app, Apple TV users will be able to access and stream TV shows and movies from Amazon’s programming catalog. Currently, Amazon Prime subscribers have to use Apple’s AirPlay video streaming standard to view Prime Video shows on a home TV. The app doesn’t have a hard release date, but is expected officially to hit Apple TVs this summer.

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Apple’s slated agreement with Amazon isn’t only limited to Apple TV, either. Buzzfeed News said Amazon is also expected to start reselling Apple TV. The online retailer stopped selling Google’s Chromecast devices and Apple TV media players in 2015.

As Amazon chief operating officer Jeff Bezos told Recode at the time, Amazon’s reasoning behind the move was that it wanted consumers to be able to watch Amazon video on devices sold by Amazon.

“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,” Bezos told Recode. “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.”

The news puts a temporary hold on the disagreements between Amazon and Apple over their respective video programs. While Apple doesn’t have a streaming catalog service similar to Amazon Prime, the company does still have its own video purchasing options for movies and TV shows.

In addition, Apple’s traditional 30 percent cut on purchases made within apps has been a hurdle for larger third-party developers. Amazon’s past iOS apps have traditionally removed the ability to make purchases within the app and require you to buy movies, shows or books from another device. There’s no indication whether the eventual Prime Video app will allow for purchases or if it’ll only draw from Amazon’s streaming video options.

Read: Apple TV Rumors: tvOS 11 Could Allow For Multi-User Support With Tailored Profiles

Amazon’s agreement with Apple highlights the continued importance of video to the online retailer’s bottom line. While video streaming is just one of several benefits from Amazon’s Prime subscription program, Amazon’s original and exclusive content has earned critical plaudits thanks to acquisitions like “Manchester By The Sea” and original shows like “Transparent.” By getting Prime Video onto yet another platform, Amazon wants to remove yet another hurdle that could keep Amazon Prime users from engaging with Amazon content.