The Apple and Amazon partnership will be going one step further next month by extending to the latter’s range of Alexa-powered Echo smart speakers and products. From December 17th, Echo owners will be able to consume Apple’s streaming music service directly on the device itself.
Owners of Echo hardware – such as Echo, Echo Dot and others – have been able to directly input their authentication credentials for Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited and others into the accompanying Alexa app for a long time now.
This allows voice commands to be given directly to the Echo hardware to play music directly from Spotify and Amazon Music/Music Unlimited, without the need for the music to be playing on a mobile phone and then shared with the Echo.
Currently, Apple Music is now supported in that capacity but this announcement means that it is coming in the next few weeks. Dave Limp, Senior Vice President of Amazon Devices, confirmed the feature improvement:
Music is one of the most popular features on Alexa. We’re thrilled to bring Apple Music – one of the most popular music services in the U.S. – to Echo customers this holiday.
We will never know if this change was always going to happen and was always part of the roadmap for Amazon devices but it’s logical to assume that it is very much possible thanks to the new relationship between Apple and Amazon. This partnership allows Amazon to sell more Apple devices on its marketplace and clearly brings other benefits with it that directly improve the experience of those individuals who use both Amazon and Apple’s products and services.
Apple Music has more than 50 million active users so it’s natural to assume that a fairly decent percentage of that user base has Echo hardware in their home. It’s also logical to assume that having direct access to Apple Music via the Alexa app will organically increase the number of subscribers who adopt the Apple Music service.
There is currently no word if things will work the other way around in the future by allowing Amazon Music Unlimited users to consume that service directly on Apple’s HomePod but currently, it seems that this decision is of direct importance to Echo owners who choose Apple Music as their streaming music of choice.
If you don’t an Echo device yet, we recommend getting starting with below choice:
Buy: Echo Dot 3rd-gen from Amazon: $29 | Original price: $50
Buy: Echo 2nd-gen from Amazon: $69 | Original price: $100
Buy: Echo Plus 2nd-gen with free Philips Hue smart bulb from Amazon: $149 | Original price: $200
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