After years of feuding, it looks as though Apple and Amazon are ready to make up and play nice. The first sign of a budding friendship? Apple is bringing its widely used Apple Music streaming service to Amazon Echo devices starting on December 17.
It’s certainly a strange move for the two companies who have, at several points in the last few years, removed streaming services from one another’s platforms and refused to sell each other’s hardware in their respective stores – and that’s not even mentioning the fact that Apple has its own smart speaker, the Apple HomePod, that could use a little more attention – but it could be the start of something good.
Whatever Apple’s motivation is, starting mid-December, you’ll be able to use the full breadth of Apple Music on Amazon Echo devices, according to a post on Amazon's Day One blog. That includes Beats Radio stations, Apple-curated playlists and access to the service’s massive song catalog.
To use Apple Music on your Amazon Echo Show, Amazon Echo Dot or any other Amazon Echo device, you’ll need to enable the Apple Music skill from the Alexa Skill Store. Once enabled, you can use commands like "Alexa, play Bebe Rexha on Apple Music". Specifying Apple Music is important, remember, because the Echo also supports other big name streaming services like Pandora, Spotify, iHeartRadio and TuneIn.
Don't expect Apple to stop gloating over how it made the best smart speaker now that Apple Music lives on Amazon Echo devices, but it might be the first signs of a thawing friendship between two of tech's biggest powerhouses.
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