Amazon Takes on Neflix with 'Instant Video' Streaming Service

Amazon has launched its rumored online video streaming service and the details we've had so far were pretty much spot on. Amazon's Prime Instant Videos allows Prime subscribers to watch a number of movies, documentaries and TV shows on a large number of devices for free and instantly. It's a direct competitor to Netflix, but the smaller selection of titles available make it only a small first step, though a clear one.

"Millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy the convenience of free Two-Day Shipping," Robbie Schwietzer, vice president of Amazon Prime, said.

"Adding unlimited instant access to thousands of movies and TV shows at no additional cost is a great way to give members even more value for their $79 annual Amazon Prime membership," he added.

At first glance, Amazon's offering is not that appealing by itself, but it is essentially free for millions of users and it's only purpose is to secure a foothold, which it can certainly do.

Amazon Prime enables heavy shoppers to get free two-day shipping on any purchase and as many purchases they want for $79 a year.

Now, existing and new subscribers will also get access to more than 5,000 titles for free streaming. There are 1,600 movies and 4,000 TV show episodes for now.

That's a small selection compared to Netflix, which boasts 20,000 titles, but it's on top of the 90,000 Amazon is offering for rental or purchase. In fact, for now, the streaming service will probably help its rental business more than it will help it compete with Netflix.

Amazon's streaming service will be available over any browser and on plenty of devices like internet-enabled TVs, Blu-Ray players and so on. Netflix is available on even more though, notably on iOS and other mobile devices.

Since it's free for existing Prime subscribers and that the service provides enough value even without the streaming part, if you do a lot of online shopping on Amazon, it's not a hard proposition to pitch. It all depends now on how far Amazon wants to go and what are its next steps.