Android Market Battles Netflix and Amazon

Android Market will now not only have mobile applications and games, but also expand its offerings to movie rentals and electronic books.

The new move will affect Android phone users with Android 2.2 or higher and be rolling out in the coming weeks, according to Paul Montoy-Wilson on the Google Mobile Blog.

Simply sign into Android Market with your Google account, and you can rent movies from anywhere – the web, or your Android phone or tablet – and start watching instantly. You can also download movies to your device so they’re available for viewing when you don’t have an Internet connection.

Also in the U.S., you can now purchase books from Android Market on your phone. Like movie rentals, books are linked to your Google account, so they’re instantly available across all of your devices – computer, phone, or tablet – without the need for wires or downloads.

We don't know if the new move is Google's preemptive strike against Facebook's cozy relationship with Netflix, a response to Apple's 15 billion downloads at its App Store or Amazon's Appstore. Either way, Google is attempting to keep its Android users loyal to its market by giving them all the things any user could want: games, apps, movies and books. Now the only thing missing is television programming, but if it could buy Hulu, Google may have a chance to fend off most of its competition.

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