Last year, Apple welcomed Twitter to broadcast its social live streams on Apple TV. This year, at WWDC 2017, Apple is expected to invite on stage a completely unexpected tech giant and make a surprising announcement to further bolster its Apple TV app library. Through an official app, Amazon Prime Video’s movie and TV show catalog is potentially being introduced to Apple TV users, reports BuzzFeed News.
Citing sources aware of the development, BuzzFeed’s John Paczkowski, who is well-known to accurately deliver insider bytes before an official launch, says the launch is almost certain. The report adds that Apple will tout about its latest partnership on stage during the keynote speech at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) this year.
This is, however, not the first time we’re hearing of the said partnership. BuzzFeed’s latest report falls in line with a similar report released by Recode earlier last week. It had then stated that Apple and Amazon were finally burying their year-long video content focused hatchet and partnering to offer more valuable content to the former’s set-top box users.
It’s not like Amazon Prime Video couldn’t have made its way to Apple TV sooner, it was completely the e-tailer’s decision to stay off the platform until date. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once addressed the lack of the said app saying that the two parties were still waiting to reach a middle ground — acceptable business terms.
The lack of this middle-ground had also resulted in Apple TV set-top box being kicked off the company’s e-commerce marketplace. It is, however, now expected to make a return to the platform post the announcement of its Amazon Prime Video app making to the Apple TV store. This will be a win-win situation for both the technology giants, who’re looking to court more users while also trying to push forward its content strategy.
This partnership will also be significant for Amazon Prime Video as it is currently standing off against its arch-rival Netflix in terms of content delivery. Both the media houses have made definite progress in the on-demand video streaming space, but Netflix’s original programming has helped it court more users. Amazon is now looking to trump the 100 million-subscriber strong company with the extension of its reach across platforms.
