Is Apple’s walled garden opening up?

Music to the ears of those without a HomePod

Apple has already made Apple Music available on Android, and now it’s streaming to Amazon’s Echo speakers too.

You first need to enable a new Apple Music skill in the Alexa app, then link your account. You’ll then be able to ask Alexa to play a song, an artist, and any playlist made by Apple Music’s editors available on the service, as well as any of the curated radio stations or Apple’s digital radio station Beats 1.

According to Amazon, playing music is one of the most popular requests made to its Alexa voice assistant on Echo speakers. For now, though, it seems that Apple Music is available only in the US. It is also not yet clear whether the skill works on third–party Alexa–compatible speakers, such as those from Sonos and Bose.

The sound quality from an Echo Dot (available for just $30) is never going to match that of a HomePod. But even so, on the face of it, this means you don’t need to splash out a fortune on Apple’s smart speaker.

Given the sizable installed base of Amazon Echo speakers, however, the move could open up a big new market of potential Apple Music subscribers. It also comes close on the heels of the announcement that new Apple products are now available on Amazon (since early January, in fact) directly from Apple and through other authorized resellers.