Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) are smart speaker competitors and digital assistant competitors. But they share a common foe in both of these critical markets: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), more specifically Google. In yet another sign of cooperation between the two tech giants, another barrier has been broken. Starting December 17, Apple Music will launch on Amazon Echo smart speakers.
Amazon Announces Echo Smart Speakers to Support Apple Music
In a blog post on Friday, Amazon announced that starting the week of December 17, Echo smart speaker owners will be able to stream Apple Music on their devices. They’ll also be able to use Alexa to control Apple Music.
“We’re thrilled to bring Apple Music — one of the most popular music services in the U.S. — to Echo customers this holiday.”
This is good news for Echo owners, but even better news for Amazon. Apple Music has a lot of subscribers (56 million at last count). If they want integrated smart speaker operation, but lack the cash to plunk down $349 for an Apple HomePod, there’s an entire range of Echo smart speakers to choose from. Google Home — which is rapidly catching up to the Echo in popularity — does not offer this capability.
In addition, more people pinging Amazon Echo smart speakers with questions related to Apple Music helps AMZN’s Alexa.
Google Assistant is considered to be the “smartest” of the personal digital assistants. The more these AI-powered features are used, the smarter they get thanks to machine learning. Google has a big lead there thanks in no small part to its dominance of the smartphone market with Android. Amazon lacks a presence in this platform, so the more people who use Alexa on an Echo smart speaker the better. If they’re asking questions or barking commands outside of Amazon’s own core services, all the better.
What’s In It For Apple?
On the surface, this move seems like a bigger win for Amazon. Amazon Echo smart speakers get more attractive — and with onboard Apple Music support, there’s one less reason to buy an Apple HomePod smart speaker.
Apple probably figures that anyone who was considering a HomePod is not going to change their mind and pick an Echo instead just because they now get Apple Music support. Most people buy a HomePod because they love Apple hardware and/or they want a superior audio experience, and nothing changes in that equation.
However, suddenly having onboard Apple Music support available on millions of Amazon Echo smart speakers eliminates an advantage that streaming music rival Spotify (NYSE:SPOT) had over Apple Music. That’s one more reason to subscribe to Apple Music, and with Friday’s announcement you can bet a chunk of Amazon Echo owners are going to sign up for free 3-month trials.
With Apple Music and other subscription-based Services revenue increasingly important to AAPL’s bottom line — and to Apple stock — Amazon’s support is a big deal.
Continuing Cooperation Between AMZN and AAPL
Adding Apple Music support to the Amazon Echo continues a trend toward the two tech giants moving closer together. Prime video on the Apple TV, followed by Amazon selling the Apple video streamer was a start. Just a few weeks ago, Amazon went all-in on offering Apple products for sale on its website, including selling iPhones, the Apple Watch, and iPads.
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the rear view mirror for 2018, the push is on for Amazon to move as many Echo smart speakers as possible. Google is doing the same with its Google Home lineup, but this year Amazon will have one new feature the Google Home lacks: Apple Music support.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
