In the United States, Amazon has entered into an agreement with Apple to allow the purchase and rental of films directly on Amazon Prime Video. How the service works
Agreement made between Amazon and Apple: it is now possible to buy and rent individual films and episodes of the TV series directly from the Amazon Prime Video app for iOS. A novelty that could not come at a better time for users, who are forced to stay home for quarantine.
With this agreement, the economic details of which have not been disclosed, the problem that has so far prevented Amazon from selling and renting content via apps for Apple devices is overcome: the 30% commission that Apple imposes on all this which is sold through an iOS app. Because of this limitation, Amazon had limited itself to allowing only the streaming of content via Apple devices. The news of the agreement was revealed by CNBC, which states that it is already possible (in the US, of course) to buy Amazon Prime Video movies and other content directly on the iPhone, iPad and other Apple devices. On his arrival in Italy, however, there are no confirmations or denials: in the coming days, we will see how the situation will be.
Amazon Prime Video on iOS: what changes
The heart of the problem was the payment method of Amazon Prime Video content: the agreement provides that it is now possible to buy and rent content using the payment method stored in the Amazon account, without therefore going through the App Store. For users, the change is immediate and transparent: in the iOS app there is now a ” Store ” tab, where you can search for all the movies for rent or sale. Once the movie is found, the button to buy or rent it appears.
The new service overlaps with Amazon Prime Video Cinema, a recently launched platform that allows you to rent movies just released in theatres for 48 hours. Again, the service is currently only available in the US.
Apple changes plans
We can imagine that this news is one of the first consequences of the strategy change recently announced by Apple. The Cupertino company, in fact, until a few days ago imposed a 30% commission on each in-app purchase (15% in the case of annual subscriptions). Now, however, “ Apple has a program for video subscription providers, in order to provide a number of advantages for consumers such as integration with the Apple TV app, support for AirPlay 2 and Siri, tvOS apps, universal search and, where possible, automatic login “. It is not known whether, how much and how Amazon and other companies that offer a subscription, sale or rental films and content should then pay to Apple.
