Amazon Employee Accidentally Reveals New Apple TV App

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It must have been a great surprise to Dan Bostonweeks, an iOS app developer, when an Amazon employee he contacted spilled the beans about a new video app.

According to Bostonweeks, he learned about the new Amazon Instant Video app after sending a suggestion to the company about building an app for Apple TV, they responded by saying it’s in development. Previously the only way Apple users could watch their Amazon video purchases on their TVs was to use AirPlay and stream it to the Apple TV. That could be changing, and it may only be a matter of weeks before the video app is released. This would mean that Apple TV users would have a more reliable way to watch their Amazon content.

fire_tv_vs_apple_tvThe employee’s reply was: “Dan, I have interacted with our technical team and have been informed that they are currently working on developing a new app for the Apple TV. As we have already succeeded in developing an app for iPhone and iPad, we hope to make an app separately for the Apple TV. Hopefully, within a few weeks’ span, you will be able to see the Amazon Instant Video app feature on your Apple TV.” Quite a candid response, though it’s unclear how credible the source is. If true, then one might ask, will the Apple TV be allowed to go on sale on Amazon again?

I wrote about Amazon dropping the Apple TV from their online store back in October. It’s likely that the company will reverse course, but if not, then it would be odd to have an app for a device that isn’t available for sale. Perhaps Amazon begrudgingly decided to make the app, seeing the potential loss in profits. The main reason it seemed insane to prevent Apple TVs from being sold on the website was the loss of money the company could make. A conspiracy nut might claim Amazon wanted to discourage people from buying non-Amazon friendly streaming devices, at least until their app was ready.

Amazon Instant Video is a fairly reliable service, but the free “Prime” version often does not include as much content as this author would like. Even Netflix seems lacking these days. The future seems to be moving towards streaming and Amazon clearly understands this. In the end, this is good news for Amazon customers who own videos and TV shows from the site, or are Prime members, and that’s what really counts.


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