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Apple will follow the path of Amazon this year and offer customers the ability to subscribe to popular streaming services from its TV app, according to a new report from Bloomberg. Normally, consumers must download and subscribe to services like Netflix, Prime Video, HBO Now, Showtime, and others on an individual basis. But just as Amazon has done with its Prime Video Channel subscriptions, Apple is aiming to centralize those options and have its TV app become the place that iOS and Apple TV owners visit to subscribe to them.

The TV app already acts as a hub where users can universally search for and browse shows and movies from numerous service; once they’ve chosen something, the associated streaming app opens up and immediately starts playing.

Bloomberg doesn’t specify which companies Apple is talking to or planning to partner with. Amazon’s Prime Video Channels include HBO, Showtime, Starz, Cinemax, CBS All Access, and a bunch of smaller, more niche services. It’s a nice convenience for Prime customers, but plenty of people still subscribe the traditional way with each separate app. But offering subscriptions would be yet another way for Apple’s services division to bring in more money. This could be an announcement that Apple makes at its WWDC keynote next month when it unveils the next versions of iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS.

from The Verge - All Posts https://ift.tt/2G3BG9G