The centre, near The Barbican, opened in September to house hundreds of employees in design and development teams from Pushbutton and LOVEFiLM, which are both Amazon companies. Since then, 100 additional, new team members have been employed and a further 100 will now be recruited in the early part of this year.
“We have always known that there is a wealth of tech talent here in London and we continue to look for the most creative minds in the UK to work on the next generation of TV and film services for Amazon customers all over the world,” said Paula Byrne, Managing Director of the Centre in London. “There has never been a more exciting time in the technology world with constant innovation resulting in exceptional experiences for consumers and we are looking for 100 new recruits to play an integral part in the future of Amazon’s digital offering.”
The 100 new roles created, and currently being recruited for, include software development engineers, user-interface experts and graphic designers.
The Amazon Digital Media Development Centre in London focuses on new digital media projects that will benefit Amazon customers all over the world. This includes the creation of interactive digital services for TVs, game consoles, smartphones and PCs; the development of the digital media experience on Amazon websites around the world; and the building of services and APIs that power that digital media experience.
One of the most recent innovations from the London Development Centre was the LOVEFiLM Instant Application on Nintendo Wii U. LOVEFiLM members who own the latest addition to the Nintendo family can access the LOVEFiLM Instant application, which comes pre-installed on the device, from the Wii U dashboard. Once logged in, members can watch, search and browse titles from the LOVEFiLM streaming catalogue – all as part of their existing membership package. LOVEFiLM’s Watch List is also included, allowing film and TV fans to add titles in the streaming library to a personalised queue for easy access later.
Q&A: Paula Byrne, managing director, Amazon Digital Media Development Centre
The LOVEFiLM Instant app is also enhanced by the second screen functionality of the Wii U console. Members using the Wii U GamePad controller benefit from an improved user experience, including the ability to view video content on both the TV and GamePad, or access details of films or TV shows (such as casting or episode lists) when browsing the LOVEFiLM Instant library.
LOVEFiLM Instant is now available on a complete range of living room devices including Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD, PlayStation®3, iPad® and Xbox 360 in addition to Wii and Wii U, plus a growing number of Blu-ray players and Internet-connected TVs.
Unlimited streaming packages start from just £4.99 a month – the lowest of any comparable subscription service.