Amazon has released Instant Video, a new video streaming app for the iPad. The app mirrors much of the functionality found on the Kindle Fire, including access to stream 'thousands of titles' available to Amazon Prime subscribers. It appears as though you won't be able to discover a great deal of content from within the app — Amazon says only a 'selection of top Prime Instant Video titles' is included. Instead, users will need to visit the Amazon website to add items to their Watchlist.

For movies and shows purchased or rented through Amazon, you can choose to either stream or download the content for offline viewing. Again, to purchase video that's not already in your library, you'll be kicked out to amazon.com to go shopping. There's AirPlay compatibility, but it's audio-only — video stays on the iPad, and there's no compatibility with Apple TV. Other features include Amazon staples such as auto-updating season subscriptions and Whispersync, which saves your position in a movie ready for you to pick up viewing on another device. Amazon Instant Video is available as a free download from the App Store.

Update: After initial testing, we've found that the app's streaming video option is accessible only over Wi-Fi, even when used on the 4G LTE-enabled iPad.