At what point is Apple responsible when their commissions drive away competition? If they charge 10% it's on Amazon, to most people. What about 25%? 50%? The point is you can't look at it in a vacuum. Both Amazon and Apple bear responsibility for there not being a Prime app.
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Apps Amazon Instant Video
- Thread starter thomamon
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I guess I just believe none of this should matter when it comes to buying digital movies. We don't need to buy 5 different DVD players to play discs from various studios, we shouldn't have our digital purchases locked to the vender's players either. If I purchase a digital movie (I have 1400+ of them) I should be able to access it anyplace like itunes or Vudu or Amazon etc....Venders can compete for our business with pricing, sales and UI. I shouldn't need to wait for Apple tv to get a specific app to play purchased movies, it should all work in itunes. If I buy a bluray from Warner Bros. It should have one code that I can redeem any place and watch anyplace.
Maybe if it was like that there wouldn't be as much segregation of apps. Let the venders concentrate on building the best storefront with easy access instead of trying to lock us into their ecosystem. There are plenty of things they can do to entice us to their systems but locking my movies up shouldn't be one of them, they should be universal just like DVD.
Maybe if it was like that there wouldn't be as much segregation of apps. Let the venders concentrate on building the best storefront with easy access instead of trying to lock us into their ecosystem. There are plenty of things they can do to entice us to their systems but locking my movies up shouldn't be one of them, they should be universal just like DVD.
I really do not understand this debate. I do not buy or rent a lot of movies. In the past whenever I wanted to buy a movie I would just buy on my Mac and then later I can watch it on my Apple TV (granted I do buy/rent more now on the ATV but not a big deal for me). With Amazon I could simply do the same thing. Now regarding the Amazon Prime where you are not buying anything other then the subscription then that is pretty much the same as Netflix and Hulu which I pay the subscription on their individual web sites. I already pay for Prime on Amazon Web Site. If they offered movies and rentals cheaper then I would simply buy on their web site either on my Mac or on my iPad or iPhone. So simple.
The problem with this is the price fixing of maybe by the studios. The price is the SAME from all of these. Honestly I prefer to buy movies (and I do not buy a lot) from iTunes because of the ECO System. However, if anyone would offer an better deal on TV Seasons I would go with them. Seems crazy to pay $3 per episode to watch a TV Show ONCE. At one time Apple offered TV Show Rental and they stopped it. They say because their customers did not want it. Of course if Amazon did not put an App on everything then it would not matter if they offered a better deal on Season Passes.
Because of this mess I have noticed a lot of people simply going with pirating this stuff. Music is no longer pirated because of the changes in the industry. We really need a grown up change in the video industry to stop this trend.
The problem is you knowingly bought DRM'd/licensed movie files. When you should have continued to boycott the system.
I didn't start buying digital music until Apple dumped DRM. All of my tracks can move to any library, copy to any device.
I have 3 digital movies, and they were freebie promotionals on youtube/googlePlay... and yes they work on AppleTV! lol. We played Elf via the YouTube app back at Christmas.
I just keep my 5th Gen iPod touch in the TV room and Airplay my Amazon videos from that. The battery on the iPod is pretty much shot anyway, so I just keep it plugged in and have no problems at all.
You think Amazon doesn't figure they can boost sales of Fire tvs by not being on appletv?
I don't see apple rejecting them as much as I do Amazon wanting to try and gain more control of your entire experience. They want Alexa in your house not Siri.
Yeah, this is probably the long and short of it right now.
Between Amazon competing directly with with iTunes for media sales, and the FireTV competing directly with the AppleTV - I think it's safe to assume that an Amazon Instant Video App is not coming anytime soon, if ever.
We'll have to make do with Netflix and Hulu for now. If Apple ever does come up with their own streaming service, hopefully they'll include free streaming content from iTunes as well... and this thread will be kind of a moot point.
Who cares if it every comes out. The Fire TV streams Amazon content perfect under any condition. I can't say the same with the other popular service.
I got a very similar email back from one of Jeff's minions myself. Totally generic and worthless sadly.
It's not as if Amazon don't know about the ATV 4, far from it given that they blocked sales of it on their store. Buy a Fire TV I guess, or any of the dozens of other devices which Amazon doesn't consider a threat, as the Apple TV will never get an Amazon app.
I'm going to not renew my prime over doing that. If I wanted to use a fire tv I would be already. I'm not using the shipping enough to justify prime right now. That's even more true since they raised the rates to partially cover these bonus services that I can't take advantage of on my preferred platform.
The Fire TV will get you the full Amazon app but, the Roku will get you the full Amazon app + The best UV app, VUDU, just fyi.
This is the only thing that would get them to move. Anybody (using a Apple TV) on the fence will think to themselves that they are not just paying for the 2 day shipping but paying for a service they can not use. If they want to limit the use of the streaming part of Prime then they may need to separate the cost. My cost is going from $79 to $99 and I can't use the Prime Video so this is already at the point I have to decide if I should look for other options. I do a lot of shopping on Amazon for multiple reasons but partly because of the fast shipping.
I do. But not as nice as using Netflix or Hulu. Also, if I use SIRI to search for a movie it will bring up the cheapest option from Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Showtime and then iTunes. Would be nice if my Amazon Prime Video Option were there. Just a hassle to break out the iPad to find something specifically on Amazon Prime. I have mainly used it for TV Shows not anywhere else. I have to decided if those TV Shows are worth it. I have a lot of content options so using Prime for mainly Shipping has been the deal.
Not really interested in Amazon Prime Video at the moment, but I really don't see why they don't release a TVOS app. Yes, Apple would charge a comission on any in-app purchases, but isn't that the same for the iOS apps? And the Kindle app? I'm sure other apps have messages in-app directing users to a website to sign up to avoid Apple's charge. What is Amazon more interested in doing - driving one-off hardware sales or ongoing subscription sales?
No Amazon owned iOS apps (Kindle, Audible, Instant Video or Comixology) allow for in-app purchases of content. That was a business decision that Amazon made long ago. You have to buy the content from the respective website and it will show up in your iOS app. tvOS should work the same way too. Amazon is just trying to get more people to buy their Fire TV.
I think on iOS they (or someone else) say to buy content you can open your Safari Browser (on your iOS Device) and go to amazon.com. But on the Apple TV there is no Safari Browser to buy so maybe a little different.
So, I was thinking they could do this.
1. Browse the catalog of Movies/TV Shows and if you find something you want to buy or rent they could allow you to "Add to Cart" or maybe a New Cart like "Add to Media Cart". The idea it to allow all the work on the Apple TV with a simple finalize on amazon.com.
2. Then on your iPhone, iPad or Computer you go to amazon.com and "immediately" you have the option to finish the transaction. Especially if you have a special cart you could have a 1 click option to close. This could easily be done on the iPhone App.
So with some imagination they could make this a pretty painless process and avoid paying the commission. Which most say is their big problem. They want you to be able to buy from their store without paying commission.
So, I was thinking they could do this.
1. Browse the catalog of Movies/TV Shows and if you find something you want to buy or rent they could allow you to "Add to Cart" or maybe a New Cart like "Add to Media Cart". The idea it to allow all the work on the Apple TV with a simple finalize on amazon.com.
2. Then on your iPhone, iPad or Computer you go to amazon.com and "immediately" you have the option to finish the transaction. Especially if you have a special cart you could have a 1 click option to close. This could easily be done on the iPhone App.
So with some imagination they could make this a pretty painless process and avoid paying the commission. Which most say is their big problem. They want you to be able to buy from their store without paying commission.
Apple wouldn't approve an app like this. The "add to cart" button in step 1 is prohibited by their developer guidelines (no links whatsoever to external stores are allowed).
Even if someone found a way to avoid the commission in a way that doesn't violate the current developer agreement, Apple would quickly close the loophole.
Which is understandable given the size of the cut Apple wants. This is simply not a sustainable business model given the already small margins in electronic sell-through. Of course Apple knows this full well.
I can maybe understand NO "Add to Cart" but not sure I understand why "No Links" is related to my suggestion.
Example:
I have Netflix (i pay directly to Netflix) and it allows me to create a "My List". Are yo familiar with this feature? I can see "My List" on other devices so I am sure it is not tied to my iCloud Account. This would require it to communicate with the Netflix Server to update my account. Do you agree with that?
So if Netflix (and others) can do this what would prevent Amazon from updating my Amazon Account with my "selections" while inside the Amazon App. Also, I can also update my Amazon Watchlist on my iPad which shows up on the Web Version of Amazon. I could not get there if the Amazon App was not communicating with the Amazon Servers. Maybe you are just stuck on the method of communicating?
Or, maybe you are thinking I am saying to complete the purchase on the Apple TV (or iPad) which I am not. Just updating my account with what I plan to buy "later" on any Safari Browser. Maybe on my Mac Mini or maybe on my iPad. I do not think Apple Considers purchases from within Safari an in-app purchase. They could also create a more stream Lined Safari Page to do this. Like www.amazon.com/buynow - I think you get the idea.
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Here's the actual rule from the review guidelines:
"Apps that link to external mechanisms for purchases or subscriptions to be used in the App, such as a "buy" button that goes to a web site to purchase a digital book, will be rejected"
As you can see this is a rather broad formulation. Any kind of shopping cart would surely be seen as an "external mechanism for purchases".
Sure. But since this feature doesn't have anything to do with purchasing content, I fail to see your point.
I think it is you who is stuck on technical mechanisms. What counts is the intention behind Apple's rule. The rule exists to prevent purchases of digital goods within apps without using Apple's billing system. If Amazon had, say, an "add to watchlist" feature and then a "buy watchlist" button on their web page, Apple would certainly classify this as an "external mechanism for purchases". Renaming the shopping cart to "watchlist" doesn't change that.
As I wrote before, even if someone were to find a loophole, Apple would simply close it by changing the rule. They have done this before.
But really, this is all besides the point. Amazon does not want a convoluted method to circumvent Apple's rules. They want a low-friction solution a la "one-click buy".
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