When Amazon and Sony joined forces to launch the new Amazon Instant Video streaming app on the Playstaion 3, Netflix will have had visions of subscribers, that are now faced with more streaming choice from Amazon, possibly jumping ship. But how does the Amazon service stack up against Netflix?
Are Amazon ready for the knock-out blow?
The Amazon Instant Video App will be a major feature on PS3′s across the US and will be advertised heavily. This is a boost for the PS3 and Sony, as no other console has a streaming app for Amazon.. Yet. The service from Amazon contains over 170,000 movies and television shows if you include the free and paid.
Amazon Prime members will have free access to the app, with membership costing $79 a year (compared to Netflix’s over $90 for a years streaming). This cost entitles users to not just streaming but also free two day shipping and free access to the Kindle e-book library. The cost is fair, considering the amount of content available to users. Those who aren’t members will be able to rent movies and television shows whenever they want through the app.
So far, so similar to Netflix. But that is where the content available comes into play. In a review of the two services by Matt Peckham of Techland, Amazon comes out on top. He says:-
I’ll say that with Amazon’s far better recent movie and TV show support, as well as the availability of HBO series like Game of Thrones, Deadwood, Boardwalk Empire, Treme, The Walking Dead and True Blood (Netflix doesn’t do HBO streaming), FX shows like Justified and American Horror Story (nada on Netflix), Showtime fare like Dexter and Homeland (also nada on Netflix), Fox’s Fringe, movies like Lars von Trier’s Melancholia and Alexander Payne’s The Descendants as well as the most recent seasons of shows like AMC’s Breaking Bad and FX’s Sons of Anarchy (Netflix currently stops at season three for both) it’s a lotmore appealing to someone like me.
Of course his opinion may not be mirrored by everyone and to watch some of his shows requires additional payment, but if enough Netflix users feel the same it could prove costly. The other big factor is the low number of supported devices that Amazon can run on. Netflix is pretty much portable across every connected device known to man.
This is covered in the Amazon press release regarding this app, “there are to be various features. The ability to move from one device to another, which is known as ‘Whispersync’. For example, you could move from a Kindle Fire to a PS3 without missing a scene, customers are able to keep their purchased movies and television shows in the Video Library on the PS3 or other compatible device and also smart lists (Recently Watched, Personal Reccomendations, and Next Episode.”
So although they have not delivered a knock-out blow, Amazon will (especially if they run a stand-alone service on more devices), give Netflix a rather bloody nose.
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