While Amazon’s Kindle Fire was initially touted as a low-price iPad competitor for customers who primarily wanted a tablet for reading books and watching video. But today it became obvious that Amazon is not being selfish about its video content, releasing an app that allows iPad users to watch, purchase, stream and download titles from its Instant Video collection.

The move echoes Amazon’s previous tactics for its Kindle e-readers, by not limiting customers to Amazon’s proprietary devices. And just like Kindle books, the company’s sync system means you can pause a video on one device and pick it up at the same position when you switch to a different device.

Since launching the Instant Video offerings, Amazon has pushed it as a bonus to customers who sign up for Amazon Prime service, and the iPad app may draw even more customers to sign up for Prime. Those who pay that annual premium get access to a library of around 20,000 streaming titles at no additional charge. However, it should be noted that Prime titles are not downloadable, so customers with WiFi-only iPads would not have access to the library when they are not connected to the Internet.

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