Amazon's Lovefilm finally launches iPhone app in the UK
Whereas Netflix has expanded quickly onto numerous mobile platforms in the UK, Amazon can't claim the same for its own streaming service, Lovefilm. Aside from the obvious Kindle support, Lovefilm's iOS app has been iPad-only for two years …
Context & Ripple Effects
The two-year wait traces directly back to Amazon's own hardware priorities: when new Kindles began shipping in Europe in October 2012, Lovefilm's energy went into launching on Kindle Fire, leaving its iOS presence stuck at iPad-only since 2011. Meanwhile Netflix had been signalling mobile ambition for years — it all but promised an iPhone app back in April 2010 and pushed HTML5 explicitly so its stream would reach every device.
By November 2013 that asymmetry had become visible enough in the UK market that eight outlets — Inquirer, TechRadar, Pocket-lint, T3 and others — picked up what is essentially one line of news. The breadth of the pickup says more than the news itself: Lovefilm's missing phone app had become shorthand for a service seen as lagging Netflix on platform reach.
First-order effects
- UK iPhone owners can finally stream Lovefilm on their phones, ending a stretch where Netflix was the default mobile option for anyone without a Kindle or iPad.
- Lovefilm closes its most conspicuous platform gap against Netflix, which per the coverage had already spread across numerous UK mobile platforms.
Second-order effects
- Netflix loses one of its easiest UK talking points — being everywhere Lovefilm wasn't — forcing the rivalry onto catalog and pricing rather than mere device availability.
- With its iOS base covered, Amazon can point Lovefilm subscribers toward the rumored streaming set-top box it was reportedly preparing for the holiday season — though those box plans remain unconfirmed.
Third-order effects
- If device coverage becomes table stakes, UK streaming competition shifts to where Amazon has structural advantages — hardware bundles like Kindle Fire — versus Netflix's cross-platform neutrality, a split that shapes how each service prices and distributes going forward.
The trend: Subscription streaming in the UK is moving from competing on which screens you cover to competing on how you bundle them, as full multi-device reach becomes the entry fee rather than the differentiator.