Thursday, July 17, 2008

Amazon on Demand

Amazon has announced Amazon Video on Demand which will be available to a limited number of Amazon.com customers this week and widely available later this summer. The new store will show some 40,000 movies and television programs, but unlike the original Amazon’s video store, will delivery these via a streaming Internet service not as downloads.

Amazon Unbox, the company’s original download-only video store required customers to download special software to watch the programs they bought and only worked on Windows PCs and TiVo set-top boxes.

Amazon has struck a deal with Sony to place its new Internet video store on the Sony Bravia line of high-definition TVs, making the new service available through Sony’s Internet Video link. Amazon now plans to pursue similar deals with other makers of TVs and Internet devices.

With the exception of Walt Disney and ABC, films and TV shows from almost all the major studios and television networks are available for sale or rental to Amazon’s customers in the United States.

Amazon Video on Demand will have formidable rivals with Apple, Netflix, Microsoft and Google all want to dominate the emerging world of digital video.

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