Amazon Instant Video Now Available On Android

briancox2 writes Amazon has avoided releasing the Amazon Instant Video app that is on Fire and Kindle to the general Android market, even though the app has been available for some time on iOS. Now, after a workaround had allowed some users to install the app on Android by fiddling with permissions, Amazon has released the app to many devices calling it "Amazon Instant Video for Google TV". It's not clear yet which devices can run this app. Currently it is not available for older Samsung Galaxy lines, however the Nexus, a major competitor of Amazon's devices, can run the new app.

Comments

Rather cumbersome

[mackil]

It's rather cumbersome, but it works. You can't install it straight from Google Play. You have to install the Amazon app and install it inside of that. They make you change the "unknown store" security setting in order to do it. Curious strategy on Amazon's part.

Now if only they would add ChromeCast support... I know, we customers are never happy.

Re:Rather cumbersome

[tepples]

I'm guessing that if Amazon had added it to Google Play Store, rentals would have had to use Google payments where Google gets 30% instead of Amazon. That or it'd work only with Prime, not rentals.

Re:Rather cumbersome

[mackil]

I'm guessing that if Amazon had added it to Google Play Store, rentals would have had to use Google payments where Google gets 30% instead of Amazon. That or it'd work only with Prime, not rentals.

That is an excellent point. I hadn't thought of that. Like Microsoft's fight with Apple over their IOS Office app.

Due to Fire Phone Flop?

[WiiVault]

I'm willing to bet they felt forced to do this in part thanks to the colossal failure of the Fire Phone. If estimates are accurate they have sold slightly under 50,000 units since launch which is abysmal. I think had the phone been a hit they would have maintained their strategy of keeping it off non Kindle Android. As a tablet owner I'm really glad the phone flopped if this is indeed the case.

Hate Amazon for this

[linuxguy]

I generally like Amazon. I am a Prime subscriber and I am supposed to be able to watch their Prime videos as well. However we're an Android family and do not have any iOS or Amazon devices. I have tried them, but I did not like them.

Netflix supports Android devices well. And I like them for it. Amazon is pulling these shenanigans in order to prop up support for their mostly uninteresting platform. Android has the largest market share and my family has 4 Android tablets and 4 Android phones. None of these devices can play Amazon instant video. Damn you Amazon!

For certain values of 'available', apparently.

[John Pfeiffer]

I've got five Android 4.x devices that run Netflix and Hulu and everything just fine, and Amazon STILL won't let me install their fucking app on ANY OF THEM. So much for 'releasing' it.

Paying for Prime and possibly buying videos apparently isn't enough. If I want to watch Amazon Instant Video on something other than a computer, I have to buy their overpriced gimped non-standard Android tablet?! (Or even worse, an iOS device!)

Last time I was this pissed at them, it was when they suddenly removed THE ENTIRETY of "How It's Made" from the stuff Prime members could watch for free, not long after I'd deleted all my HDTV caps of it off my network drive to save space.