Amazon.com Inc.
(
AMZN
) has recently launched an iPad app for its Instant Video streaming
service, allowing customers to enjoy films and TV shows on their
iPad.
The free app also allows Amazon Prime members to use their
membership to watch thousands of videos including TV shows like
Glee
,
Downton Abbey
and
Fringe
, or popular movies such as
Mission: Impossible 3
on their iPad at no additional charge.
This marks the second move by Amazon to expand its digital content
support to iOS. In June, the company launched an iOS version of
Amazon Cloud Player, enabling local and streaming support for
Amazon music libraries.
While selling and lending books on the Kindle platform is on the
rise, Amazon has been doing well with its video content. The online
retailer has been consistently upgrading and promoting movies and
television shows on its streaming video service.
The company has extended Prime Instant Video to
Microsoft's
(
MSFT
) Xbox 360. Customers can now watch Prime Video titles on Kindles,
Sony's
(
SNE
) Playstation 3,
Apple's
(
AAPL
) Mac or other PCs, as well as on TV.
At the same time, titles have expanded to 18,000 movies and TV
episodes. Amazon's reach and value proposition are making it a key
player in the video distribution business, providing competition to
the likes of
Netflix
(
NFLX
).
However, the company's digital music and video businesses have not
had the same success as its e-book market. According to the NPD
Group, Amazon has a market share of less than 15 percent, while
Apple's iTunes store is the clear leader in digital music, with a
share of more than 50%. Netflix is a dominant player in paid
digital movie rentals, with a market share of 55% in the fourth
quarter of 2011.
Hence, Amazon is exploring ways to improve its digital business by
making music and video available on as many gadgets as possible. We
believe that if customers could access Amazon's digital music and
videos more easily through Apple's and other devices, the company's
digital media sales would accelerate.
Amazon is one of the leading players in the extremely fast-growing
retail ecommerce market. The strong growth prospects are making the
market more competitive by the day. At the moment, however, most of
Amazon's competition (whether direct or indirect) continues to come
from
eBay Inc
. (
EBAY
), Apple through its iBooks app,
Barnes & Noble, Inc.
(
BKS
) and
Google
(
GOOG
).
Currently, Amazon has a Zacks #3 Rank, which implies a Hold rating
in the near term.
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
AMAZON.COM INC (AMZN): Free Stock Analysis
Report
BARNES & NOBLE (BKS): Free Stock Analysis
Report
EBAY INC (EBAY): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis
Report
MICROSOFT CORP (MSFT): Free Stock Analysis
Report
NETFLIX INC (NFLX): Free Stock Analysis Report
SONY CORP ADR (SNE): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment
Research