. Headquarters United States Area served Worldwide (excluding, ) Industry Subsidiaries Video Direct Website rank 533 (January 11, 2018 ) Registration Required Launched September 7, 2006; 12 years ago ( 2006-09-07) Current status Active Prime Video is an service that is developed, owned, and operated.

It offers television shows and films for rent or purchase and Prime Video, a selection of original content and licensed acquisitions included in the Amazon's subscription. In the UK, US, Germany, and Austria, access to Prime Video is also available through a video-only membership, which does not require a full Prime subscription. In countries like and, Rent or Buy and Prime Video are not available on the Amazon website and Prime Video content is only accessible through a dedicated website. In some countries Amazon Video additionally offers Amazon Channels, which allows viewers to subscribe to other suppliers' content, including in the United States. Launched on September 7, 2006 as Amazon Unbox in the United States, the service grew with its expanding library, and added the Prime Video membership with the development of Prime. It was then renamed as Amazon Instant Video on Demand.

After acquiring the local streaming and DVD-by-mail service in 2011, Prime Video was added to Prime in the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria in 2014, a move that angered some Prime UK members as the bundling was non-negotiable with a 61% increase in subscription fee. In the UK, Germany, and Austria, Prime Video has been available on a monthly subscription of £5.99 or €7.99 per month, continuing the plan of LoveFilm Instant. The service was previously available in Norway, Denmark and Sweden in 2012, but was discontinued in 2013. On April 18, 2016, Amazon split Prime Video from Amazon Prime in the US for $8.99 per month.

The service also hosts content alongside titles on Video as well. On December 14, 2016, Amazon Video launched worldwide (except for, Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria) expanding its reach beyond US, UK, Germany, Austria, and Japan. Among the new territories, the service was included with Prime in Belgium, Canada, France, India, Italy, Spain, Poland, and Brazil, while for all other countries it was made available for a monthly promotional price of $/€2.99 per month for the first six months and $/€5.99 per month thereafter. Contents. History The service debuted on September 7, 2006 as Amazon Unbox in the United States. On September 4, 2008, the service was renamed Amazon Video on Demand. As of August 2014 the service is no longer available for downloading purchased instant videos.

On February 22, 2011, the service rebranded as Amazon Instant Video and added access to 5,000 movies and TV shows for members. On September 4, 2012, Amazon signed a deal with pay-TV channel to feature movies on their streaming service, in a move to rival their competitor. Additionally, in November 2013, Amazon premiered the comedies and, which are original series available exclusively online via the Prime Instant Video service. Amazon offered the first three episodes of both series at once for free, with each subsequent episode released weekly thereafter for Prime members. In February 2014, Amazon announced that the streaming service of its subsidiary would be folded into the Instant Video service on February 26, 2014.

In January 2015, became the first show produced by to win a major award and the first series from a streaming video service to win the. In 2015, Amazon launched the Streaming Partners Program (now known as Amazon Channels), a platform allowing subscription-based third-party channels and streaming services to be offered to Amazon Prime subscribers through the Amazon Video platform. These services are separate from the Amazon Video offering, and must be purchased separately.

The original launch in the U.S. Included services such as, Movie Club, 's, and others.

The service subsequently added other partners, such as and,. On July 30, 2015, Amazon announced that they had hired, and to produce an untitled motoring show for Amazon Prime Video that would later be named. Neither nor had stated how much Clarkson, Hammond, or May are being paid to produce the programme via their production company, but Jeff Bezos stated that the deal was 'very expensive, but worth it'. The budget for the show has not officially been announced, but, the former executive producer of stated that each episode would have a budget of around £4.5 million, nine times larger than Top Gear's budget. Also in July, Amazon announced plans to expand the service into. In September 2015 the word 'Instant' was dropped from its title in the US, and it was renamed simply Amazon Video. In November 2016, the Wall Street Journal reported that Amazon was pursuing streaming rights to U.S.

Professional sports leagues to further differentiate the service. Amazon announced in November 2016 that it planned to stream The Grand Tour globally, which led to speculation over whether the full Amazon Video service would begin a wider international rollout to compete with. On December 14, 2016, Amazon Video expanded into 200 additional countries. In January 2017, Amazon announced, an anime focused Amazon Channels service. In May 2017, Amazon Channels expanded into Germany and the UK; in the UK, the company reached deals to offer channels from (including ), and live/on-demand content from. In April 2017, Amazon began to make sports-related content acquisitions, first acquiring non-exclusive rights to stream portions of the 's games during the to Prime subscribers in a $50 million deal, replacing a previous deal with. In August, Amazon acquired the British television rights to the beginning 2019, replacing.

The deal will run until 2023 and will exclusively show all masters 1000 events and 12 500 and 250 series tournaments. Amazon will be the third party pay TV provider for the ATP finals and starting in 2018 for Queens Club and Eastbourne tournaments. The ATP announced a two-year deal in September for Amazon to stream the. In November it was announced that Amazon had acquired the British television rights to the US Open for five years from the 2018 edition, for a reported £30 million.

Eurosport who owned the pan European rights extended their deal with the US Open but excluded the UK, which was ironic as Amazon had reached a deal with the broadcaster to stream their channels on their station. The ATP additionally announced that Amazon in the US would screen the tennis channel, Tennis TV from 2018.

On January 5, 2018, Amazon announced that they will be terminating their Anime Strike and Heera services, merging their content with Prime Video. In June 2018, it was announced that Amazon had secured the rights to broadcast 20 live football matches from the 2019-20 season on a three-year deal. The deal signifies a major shift in the way UK football fans will watch the Premier League, as this will be the first time that the league will be shown on a domestic live streaming service, as opposed to Premier League matches being shown exclusively on television. Amazon Video, via sister company Amazon Studios, owns global television adaptation rights to. List of Amazon channels. Retrieved November 28, 2017. Kleinman, Alexis (April 23, 2014).

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Now that Thanksgiving has passed, holiday shopping is in full swing around the world. While personal preference always plays a part in gift giving, sometimes it can be hard to come up with any ideas for someone in your life who loves tech and Apple products. For this reason, we've created a buyer's guide that combines gift recommendations from our community of readers and from our own editors.

The gifts in question largely relate to products created by Apple and third-party accessories that work well with Apple's devices. We've divided things up by Apple Products; Cases, Skins, and Screen Protectors; Charging; Audio; Smart Home; and Miscellaneous. Apple Products If your budget allows for it, Apple has numerous devices that will make for solid gift giving ideas this holiday season.

If the person you're buying for subscribes to Apple Music, AirPods and HomePod are great companions to the streaming music service, and Apple TV 4K is one of the best streaming boxes on the market, perfect for TV binges during the upcoming holiday break. ($160) - AirPods may be the most loved Apple product thanks to instant setup and truly wireless features. (starting at $180) - Watch Amazon Prime, HBO, Hulu, and more, all organized with Apple's convenient TV app. ($350) - A great Apple Music companion that can also perform some helpful Siri functions.

(starting at $800) - The latest iPad Pro, with an all-screen design and Face ID. ($130) - Pair a new Apple Pencil 2 with the 2018 iPad Pros for a smooth illustrating experience. (starting at $400) - A bigger display and slimmer body make this Apple's best workout companion yet. Cases, Skins, and Screen Protectors With their cheap prices and small sizes, iPhone cases and screen protectors make for great stocking stuffers.

Of course, if you're looking for MacBook protection, companies like Pad & Quill and Twelve South offer solid options, and the growing popularity of AirPods has caused third-party brands to introduce some case options for the wireless headphones as well. IPhone.

(starting at $20) - Stylish designs that protect an iPhone X, XS, XS Max, XR, and more. (starting at $10) - One of the thinnest iPhone cases around.

($25-$55) - Protect your iPhone from drops and your eyes from harmful blue light effects. MacBook. (starting around $40) - Incase is well-known for its hardshell MacBook cases, which provide durable protection to Apple's laptops. ($64) - Twelve South's BookBooks make your MacBook look like a vintage novel. ($140) - Fit your MacBook Pro, iPad, iPhone, Apple Pencil, cables, and more in Pad & Quill's leather case.

AirPods. ($7) - Personalize your AirPods with DecalGirl's skins. ($9) - Protect the AirPods Charging Case from dangerous drops with a silicone case. ($45) - Bruno Magli's accessory protects AirPods in a smooth brown leather case. Charging Portable chargers are one of the best go-to gifts this time of year, since most people can relate to needing a quick charge on their smartphone at one point during the day.

Anker's popularity and reliability in the market remains strong, so you can't go wrong buying from them, but look to Choetech, RAVPower, and new brand Nimble for a few other notable charging accessory options. ($50) - Expand your MacBook's ports with Kingston's USB-C Hub. ($30) - OWC has confirmed its Travel Dock works with the MacBook Pro and all-new iPad Pro. ($20) - Bring back MagSafe with Griffin's cable accessory. ($20) - Ultra-reliable braided Lightning cables that beat Apple's prices.

($36) - Anker's PowerCore batteries are a backpack and travel necessity, and 10,000 mAh is a perfect mid-range size. ($16) - Wirelessly charge an iPhone 8 and newer on Anker's cheap-but-reliable mat.

($140) - Mophie's all-new 45W USB-C battery is perfect for fueling up your MacBook or MacBook Air. ($14) - Split up charging to a trio of devices with RAVPower's wall accessory. ($17) - Fast charge an iPhone using this device and a Lightning-to-USB-C cable.

($70) - Charge your iPhone in either Landscape or Portrait orientations using Logitech's versatile Qi-compatible stand. ($80) - A subtle wooden picture frame hides a useful 7.5W wireless charger. and (starting around $40) - The new eco-friendly brand sells well-designed and trustworthy chargers.

Gigaom How Airplay Makes Apple Tv A Great Gift Idea For Machine

Audio If you're shopping for a music lover, who perhaps doesn't subscribe to Apple Music, then Bluetooth speakers are a great idea. The market is full of low-cost, dependable options like Anker Soundcore, as well as mid- and high-range devices from UE and Sonos.

($40) - Like Anker's other products, these speakers are low-cost but high quality. ($200) - With AirPlay 2, you can use Siri to control audio playback on Sonos One and integrate the speaker into HomeKit. ($130) - A 15 hour battery and improvements to waterproofing make the Boom 3 Ultimate Ears' most durable speaker yet. ($26) - Anker's SoundBuds provide 12.5 hours of music playback. ($100) - iPhone quick pairing and Lightning charging make the BeatsX a great option for those in the Apple ecosystem. ($300) - Block out noise to focus on your own music with Bose's comfy over-ear headphones. Smart Home If anyone on your shopping list is into smart home devices, the iDevices Switch and Hue White and Color Ambiance Lightstrip are great additions to any HomeKit household, and mesh Wi-Fi systems from Orbi and AmpliFi will ensure that all devices remain connected anywhere in the house.

(starting at $30) - Lifx lights sync to HomeKit and offer various bulbs and lightstrips for colorful lighting scenarios. ($60) - One of the best options in the smart lighting space for quick-and-easy bias lighting. ($230) - Fun, bright accent lighting that you can control from your iPhone or with Siri. ($215) - A favorite for HomeKit-enabled temperature controls. ($235) - Make sure your door is locked right from your iPhone.

($250) - The new Anki robot is an adorable in-home assistant. ($322) - Larger homes of up to 5,000 sq ft will benefit greatly from Orbi's whole-home mesh Wi-Fi coverage.

($180) - Sets up in under two minutes for fast and dependable coverage throughout your home of up to 4,000 sq ft. ($30) - One of the best - and best priced - HomeKit-compatible switches on the market. Miscellaneous Of course, there are plenty more gift ideas that would work for the Apple fans on your list, from Throwboy's Apple-themed pillows to a helpful dongle keychain accessory, a BentoStack organizer, and more.

($25 - $40) - Decorate your home with cute pillows themed after an iPhone, Mac, Rainbow Wheel, and more. ($95) - Get 2x closer to the subject on a single or dual lens phone.

($100) - Kids can learn how to code through lessons themed in J.K. Rowling's Wizarding World. (starting at $95) - Reduce eye fatigue while working on your iMac or MacBook with Felix Gray's quality glasses. ($80) - Charge and store Beats and other headphones on the Fermata stand. ($80) - Keep your coffee or tea at the perfect drinking temperature for hours with Ember's iOS-connected Ceramic Mug.

($50) - Perfect for frequent travelers, who can store Apple Watch bands, Apple Pencil, cables, and more in BentoStack's unique enclosure. ($10) - Make sure your 3.5mm-to-Lightning dongle is always at-hand with this helpful accessory. ($25) - Never lose your wallet or keys again with Tile's newly updated Bluetooth trackers. Do you have any other holiday gift giving ideas?

Let us know what you'll be shopping for - or asking for - this season in the comments below, or send us a tweet to let us know your ideas. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.