The long awaited Netflix Watch Instantly client for the iPhone and iPod Touch has finally arrived.
Netflix announced the availability of their free iPhone app in the iTunes App Store today. It requires iOS 3.13 or later.
The Watch Instantly service already allowed Netflix subscribers to stream video directly to devices including computers, Blu-ray players, HDTVs & game consoles. An iPad app has also been available since April of this year when the device launched.
A client for Android devices is also in development.
“We’re excited that our members can now carry Netflix around in their pockets and instantly watch movies and TV shows streamed from Netflix right to their iPhone or iPod touch” said Netflix founder and CEO Reed Hastings.
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Apple has announced today that on Friday the company sold its 1 millionth iPad tablet, just one month after its release.
The iPad, in its Wi-Fi-only version, was released on April 3rd, and quickly sold over 300,000 units.
Additionally, iPad owners have downloaded 12 million apps from the App Store, and over 1.5 million e-books from the newly launched iBookStore.
“One million iPads in 28 days—that’s less than half of the 74 days it took to achieve this milestone with iPhone,” says CEO Steve Jobs. “Demand continues to exceed supply and we’re working hard to get this magical product into the hands of even more customers.”
Developers have created 5000 apps specifically for the iPad, with some of the most popular being legal streaming movie and TV show services such as Netflix.
The Wi-Fi only version is available now starting at $499 for the smallest capacity version.
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Apple and Amazon Video On Demand have started rival promotions this week on digital movie and TV downloads, offering movies for under $5 USD and offering rentals for .99.
New digital films will also cost $14.99 at Amazon now, a discount from their previous $16.99 price tag, and occasionally cheaper than their physical media counterparts.
As an example, both sites have slashed the price of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a May release, to $9.99 USD, while the DVD sells for $15 and the Blu-ray for $25.
Most competitors, such as CinemaNow and VUDU, offer new releases for over $17 USD.
FutureSource analyst David Sidebottom adds that Amazon has been trying to steal iTunes market share in the music market, with aggressive pricing. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they did the same on the video side.”
The best deals, however, are on TV shows, with over 9 full seasons of popular shows available for under $5 USD.
