As rumored, Apple has finally delivered on its WWDC promise to bring Amazon Prime Video to Apple TV, with just a few weeks to spare before Apple hit its own end-of-the-year deadline.
The tvOS version of the app is available to download on Apple TV 3rd generation devices or above by searching “Amazon Prime Video” on your set-top box. It brings an end to the days of having to use AirPlay to play Amazon Prime Video on your Apple TV, via another device.
Amazon Prime Video is one of the last streaming video apps of its kind to arrive on Apple TV, following in the footsteps of rivals like Hulu and Netflix. You’ll need a $99 Amazon Prime subscription to use it, but from my perspective this is one of the best hundred bucks you can spend, when you factor in the discounted delivery, free books, and other goodies Amazon Prime offers.
The long road to Prime Video
The lack of Amazon Prime Video on Apple TV has previously been a source of contention. At one point, Amazon stopped selling the Apple TV, because CEO Jeff Bezos suggested its inability to play Amazon Prime TV shows would confuse customers.
“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,” he said about Apple TV at last year’s Recode Code Conference. “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.”
A deal to bring it to Apple TV was finally announced at WWDC this summer, but it took a long time for it to actually become a reality. Its arrival today was discovered this week by a user on Reddit, who found that setting their iPhone time and date forward to December 6 caused Amazon Prime Video to appear in the App Store.
In addition to the new tvOS app, Apple has also updated the Amazon Prime Video app to version 5.0. The update adds universal search and support for Apple’s new iPhone X handset. You can download the iOS app for free here.
