When you’re competing with Netflix, you have your work cut out for you.
Amazon, however, may have just gained an upper hand in the fight for content streaming supremacy.
No, they will not be streaming porn.
Users of the company’s Prime service, a $99-a-year membership club, will now be able to download movies and TV shows on their smartphone or tablet for offline viewing.
On top of being a very handy feature for those who fly often or know they will be somewhere without Wi-Fi, it’s especially notable because Netflix has announced they would never offer it – “it’s never going to happen,” saidNetflix executive Cliff Edwards late last year, arguing that being able to download videos for offline viewing is a short-term fix for the long-term problem of spotty Wi-Fi availability.
A completely valid point, by the way, since wireless internet access will hopefully be a basic human right in the near future.
So why is Amazon jumping at the opportunity to offer something – downloading, essentially – that’s becoming decreasingly relevant? A quote by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos sheds some light: “Amazon is the first company to use a Golden Globe to sell toilet paper,” he was quoted as saying, in reference to his company’s award-winning show Transparent. Indeed, capitalizing on our binge-watching culture to drive retail makes a lot of sense.
The service has always been available for owners of Amazon’s Fire tablets (obviously), but can now be used by those who use Android and Apple devices as well.
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