Why You Don’t Need to Wait for Amazon Prime for Apple TV this Summer

FLOKI (Gustaf Skarsgård) cr: Jonathan Hession/HISTORY

Recode tells us Apple and Amazon have had “high level talks” and that Amazon Prime Video will be made available to Apple TV owners “this summer”.

That’s great, but you can already watch Amazon Prime Video using AirPlay, which just shows what a bunch of posturing nonsense this whole spat between the two multinationals has been. It’s the customers who’ve suffered.

Peace in Our Time

The subtitle to the story tells us that “Jeff Bezos and Tim Cook bury the hatchet”, which just goes to prove that negotiation and deal-making always beats bluster.

Amazon employees predict Amazon Prime will appear on Apple TV this summer, according to the tale, and while specifics around the rest of the deal are pretty scarce, I’m guessing it means the two firms have hammered out some kind of revenue-sharing deal that works.

I’m just happy that I can now look forward to watching the next series of Vikings on Apple TV without too much hassle. I love Vikings. It’s brilliant.

Why Wait?

You don’t need to wait for the two big firms to make nice to watch these things. I described the process here (in a report that also featured Vikings, because it’s a great show), but to save your fingers the stress of clicking, here’s a reprise.

1. Make sure your iOS device or Mac and Apple TV are on the same Wi-Fi network
2. Launch the Prime Instant Video app (iOS) or in the browser (Mac) and login to your Prime account.
3. Select the film you want and then either:
4. Swipe up to summon Control Center, tap the AirPlay button and select the Apple TV you want to stream video too:
5. With the video playing in full screen use the AirPlay item in your Mac’s Menu bar to despatch the media to the Apple TV.

Alternatively an even easier way is to tap the Airplay button at top right of your app. With integration like that, why the delay?