edithrenas: Amazon Instant Video arrives on iPad in the U.S., brings tons of movie and TV fun

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Amazon Instant Video arrives on iPad in the U.S., brings tons of movie and TV fun

Amazon Instant Video arrives on iPad, brings tons of movie and TV fun

Amazon Instant Video is finally -- finally -- available for iPad in the U.S., and with it comes the entire movie and TV catalog. That catalog includes over 120,000 videos available for purchase or rent, thousands of which can be streamed for free if you're an Amazon Prime member. Here's the official blurb:

Watch thousands of titles available from Prime Instant Video at no additional cost with an Amazon Prime membership and over 120,000 videos available from the Amazon Instant Video store by installing the Amazon Instant Video app. Download purchased and rented videos from Your Video Library for offline viewing on airplanes, road trips, or any time a WiFi connection is unavailable. Keep track of movies and TV shows to watch later by adding them to Your Watchlist. A selection of top Prime Instant Video titles is included in the app, and you can visit Amazon to add other Prime titles to Your Watchlist. Start watching a video on an iPad and Whispersync technology automatically syncs your place between devices, allowing videos to be resumed from where you left off on a Kindle Fire, PS3, PC, Mac, or hundreds of models of connected TVs and Blu-ray players.

Thanks to Amazon's WhisperSync, the same thing that keeps all your Kindle books on the same page, you can start watching on iPad and keep watching right where you left off on Kindle Fire, PS3, Windows, Mac, and compatible TVs and entertainment boxes like Blu-Ray players. Or vice-versa.

Sadly, there's no iPhone or iPad version yet, and Amazon's content availability outside the U.S. remains pathetic. (Meanwhile Apple's making billions internationally -- go figure?). There's also no Apple TV version yet or even AirPlay support, though given Hulu Plus' recent move to the Apple TV, hopefully Amazon's appearance isn't too far behind.

Also, Phil Nickinson of Android Central says not all episodes of some shows, like West Wing, are currently available on iPad the way they are on Kindle Fire. Since Amazon reportedly doesn't even break even on Kindle Fire sales, and their business model depends on content sales, this might simply be an issue of them not getting their virtual shelves stocked fast enough for iPad.

Still, it is nice to see all these content deals line up before the rumored "fall product transitions".

If you load up Amazon Instant Video on your iPad, let me know how it works for you. How's the Amazon experience on iPad compared to Kindle Fire, and compared to Netflix on the iPad?