Amazon's Instant Video iOS app gets fresh coat of personal paint
New user interface adds more personalized carousels to app homescreen, as well as dropdown menu and navigation bar
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A new user interface, earlier uncovered by 9to5Mac, has more personalized carousels of TV shows and movies on the homescreen, which should bring individualized recommendations based on past viewing to the fore right as the app opens.
The update of the Amazon Instant Video app also adds a dropdown menu to make dozens of shows and movies quickly accessible and a navigation bar to find and switch between the different content collections.
Subscribers to Prime get access to the Prime Instant Video still, but those who haven't forked over for the membership still select from the Amazon Instant Video store.
Dora the Explorer gets top exposure in the the screenshot examples Amazon provides, and that's no accident. The company, along with rivals like Netflix, have been doggedly pursuing children's programming, and Dora is a kid favorite that Netflix gave up earlier this year.
The online video providers are marking their territory in a type of programming that -- after sports -- can be the most decisive factor in a viewer's choice of provider, and it sets up as a new generation of subscribers.