Amazon is continuing to avoid putting the Apple TV on sale through its online store until Apple can provide "acceptable business terms," retailer CEO Jeff Bezos has confirmed. Speaking at the Code Conference yesterday, Bezos declined to answer why the Apple TV hasn't reappeared in the store since
October last year, along with the Google Chromecast, but his response seems to suggest it has more to do with revenue generated by the app than increasing sales of its own streaming devices.
When asked directly,
Recode reports Bezos as avoiding the question by declaring "private business discussions should stay private." Bezos went on to advise "When we sell those devices, 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. You can always get the player on the device. The question is, can you get it on there with acceptable business terms?"
It is likely Bezos is referring to the usual 30 percent transaction fee Apple takes from in-app purchases in his statement. While there is an app for iOS devices that can play back video from Amazon's service, it only applies to shows that are available on Prime if the user is a subscriber, as well as videos purchased or rented from the service outside of the subscription, but paid for by a transaction through the main Amazon store, rather than via the app. Amazon could create a tvOS app, but is seemingly holding out for Apple to reduce its fee so it can introduce the app with rentals from launch.
Elsewhere in the on-stage discussion, Bezos revealed it has more than
1,000 employees working on its Alexa digital assistant and the Echo device range. As for Amazon Prime Video itself, Bezos
suggests competitor Netflix isn't a rival, as he believes "people are going to subscribe to both."