Amazon introduced its Amazon Instant Video app for the iPad on Wednesday, giving Amazon Prime customers an alternative to the Kindle Fire for viewing the online retailer’s streaming movie selection on the go.
Amazon Instant Video comes to the iPad
The app supports downloading purchased and rented movies for offline viewing, offers movie streaming when an Internet connection is available, syncs play locations in movies with the Kindle Fire, Sony PS3, Mac and Windows PCs, and Whispersync-enabled TVs and Blu-ray players. Amazon says it has 120,000 videos in its library.
The Amazon Instant Video app, however, doesn’t support buying or renting videos since the company isn’t interested in giving Apple a 30 percent cut of in-app sales. Instead, users will need to use a Web browser to make purchases, then jump back to the Instant Video app for viewing.
Amazon Prime costs US$79 a year.
The Amazon Instant Video app is free and is available at Apple’s iTunes-based App Store.