Will Amazon ever make an instant video app?

[NursingNinja]

Any chance amazon will make this app for us? My whole movie collection resides on their server, feeling kind of dumb at the moment. I love this tablet I just bought, but uave no realist way of watching those movies on it. Even playon isnt working as a solution.

 

[Aquila]

The current version https://forums.androidcentral.com/e...pps/details?id=com.amazon.avod&token=x2LfZTHm is restricted (mostly or entirely?) to Google TV devices. Some people are able to get Amazon Instant Video to work in a flash-enabled browser in desktop mode on other devices. There is an incentive for them to do so in terms of getting all of Google's customers that will never buy a Kindle Fire, but it would obviously cut down on the sales of the Kindle Fire from people that are buying it only for that app. I wouldn't hold my breath for an app that works on all/most devices.

 

[markbc]

Agree with NothingisTrue...

Amazon is unlikely to release their app to all android devices -at least in the short term. It may be something as simple as DMA, but I think with Android being this mature, it's now something else.

Amazon has an Apple instant video app because giving them Amazon instant play does not directly hurt Kindle Fire sales, yet it hooks Apple users into the Amazon purchasing eco-system, or at least extends it from home browsers to the IPad. .

Conversely (for us), Amazon focuses on their Android devices that are really optimized for promoting everything Amazon in all areas: video, music, books and even document management. The Kindle Fire HD (KFTT) "clunky" launcher is really very good at offering and delivering all things Amazon.

The irony is that Amazons books and video selections are so good that most people would use them anyway -even if they were not on KFTT, not so sure about music, although their prices are right. . .

Perhaps when the tablet market has definitively swung toward Android devices, Amazon will deliver a generic or Google Play app for Amazon Instant Video for all, (Amazon is a relatively flexible and innovative company in that regard!) but that may be a while yet.

 

[NursingNinja]

Any chance a clever and resourceful individual might be able to convert that tv android apk into one that would work on a tablet

 

[NursingNinja]

I just called up amazon directly and spoke with one of their representatives. Essentially all I got was the statement that they would add my request to the others received in their app department. The tech did mention that she gets this request alot, perhaps we should all call?

 

[markbc]

This is well-known to them -I think there are even some threads on the Amazon help/support BBS about porting the Amazon Instant Video App over to other android tablets. XDA also has(d) some threads by folks who have tried. All were unsuccessful, I can't give you the technical reasons, but they are there if you Google them and dig around enough.
I do like Amazon tech support -they have handled all of my KFTT queries quickly and resolved my problems without making a fuss. However, that is far different from opening up AIV to the world.
It seems the original rationale was protecting DMA rights, but also it is clearly in Amazon's interests to drive as many as possible to use their proprietary tablet, whose interface is focused on Amazon content (and which not only delivers Amazon content well, it also SELLS Amazon content well). The Kindle Fire series are better than any one app or suite of Amazon apps could possibly be on any other tablet.

The fact that Amazon tablets sell so well means that Amazon products are popular and being popular Amazon can control the delivery -at least for now.

Apple is a different case and the Amazon model applied to iPad is different.

Sadly, that does not bode well for the short term --at least for us seeing the Amazon instant video app in the Amazon app store or on Play. . .

 

[Beau Desmond]

I still don't get the rationale for not releasing the app for android devices other than the Kindle Fire line. Supposedly, Amazon makes very little profit on the kindles. Their greatest value is that they offer the easiest access to their content of any device and many of their customers who might be afraid of any other tablet may feel comfortable buying a kindle, knowing that the content they are most interested in accessing, their Amazon Digital Content, is right there, front and center, with great ease of use.

The Kindle E-Book app has been available for a long time on Android and iOS devices and I don't think there is any indication that has hurt sales of any Kindle devices.

Even if the exclusivity provides a minor bump in Kindle Fire Sales, I can tell you with some certainty that some loyal Amazon customers, myself included, have decided to buy all our Digital Video content elsewhere, because of the fact that that content from Amazon is not available on our preferred devices.

IMO, it's a completely boneheaded move on their part.

Personally, I think they aren't just missing out on Amazon Instant video sales as a result, but are also missing out on a potentially lucrative product in the form of an Amazon Instant Video App that non-Kindle users would have to pay for. Given the established exclusivity, I would find it very reasonable to pay $15 for the app for my Android devices. Then, an additional benefit of the Kindle Fire would be that you get that app for free, while people considering purchasing a non-kindle device would have to figure an extra $15 into the price if they wanted access to Amazon Instant Video.

Of course, I'd prefer they just offer it for free, but I would pay if that was the only way they would make it available to everyone.

Now, it is possible that this is a digital rights issue. Vudu is still fighting with the studios for the right to offer HD playpack on tablets and smartphones. Amazon may have only secured the rights with the understanding that the only mobile devices with access would be their tightly controlled Kindle line. That brings up another compromise, though. I'd be fine with SD playback on non- KF devices, until the studios finally get their heads out of their nether regions and allow HD streaming on mobile devices for content that people are paying for. This would also, in the meantime, give the Kindle Fire HD line an edge over other tablets.

There are so many options that seem much more logical for Amazon, and more profitable, than the current status quo, which makes the situation more and more absurd the longer it goes on.

 

[Phillippe L]

I'm in the same boat. I have an ASUS TF700 that I love to use for watching movies. I use Netflix a lot on it as well. I saw that Amazon prime had a lot of stuff streaming that Netflix doesn't at the same time. I was able to test to see if I could do it through the browser first and then purchased Amazon Prime. All you need to do is install Adobe Flash manually and use the stock android browser. For some reason it didn't work either at all or well on the other browsers.

This works beautifully and is faster than the Netflix app. The HD on Amazon also seems better than Netflix.

Here is a link on how to install flash if you want to try.
Adobe Community: How do I manually install Flash Player on my Android device?

 

[Phillippe L]

I agree that their direction is screwed up. Would you rather sell weak tablets dedicated as e-readers, or would you like to sell tons of monthly/yearly supscriptions for online entertainment, plus the fact that those other devices can get the kindle app as well for book purchases? I would think that all the stats point to subscriptions as the obvious choice.

It's a shame that so many companies were so short sighted and only wanted to jump on the tablet bandwagon to understand that the only way a tablet will make it on top is if it's powerful and diverse enough to do many things. That's why Blackberry is ready to collapse at any moment, their thinking was very linear about what their device should be able to do and in the end they didn't meet the expectations and thoughts of the consumer.

 

[hmmm]

If they offered this I would join Prime. As it is they just lose out on my business. It doesn't bother me a whole lot but I would try it out if given the opportunity. I will not buy a device based on one app though.

 

[patruns]

I would consider joining Prime as well if they would address this, especially since they have a lot of movies to rent that Netflix won't stream. I suppose I could use a Chrome browser and cast it via Chromecast, but I want the ability to see it on my Nexus 10.

 

[Dewayne Korth]

That's a crap answer: "iPad is different" . not its not. It is a footprint that they don't care about and because of that I don't use amazon movies any more. they have forced me to google play movies. Stupid to not sell to more people. You can't force me to buy your content.

 

[sdianetodd]

I just downloaded FlashFox which has something to do with FireFox but I didn't download FireFox separately, from the Google Play Store and I am watching an Amazon Prime Movie right now! I am using my Razr Maxx and haven't found anything that worked before now. It really upset me because I had purchased several movies that I wanted to watch more than once. I also have purchased from Vudu on occasion and wanted access to those from my phone. I am so excited to get to my movies from work. Sometimes I just like the noise. Also I like to watch on long car rides; not when I am driving of course. Anyway wanted to share. I did download the Flash from Adobe link above but it still didn't work on Chrome so I tried this one and it did work. It says it has flash with it so I don't know if I even needed the other file. Oh well! I have movies .