Other video services may be raking in the eyeballs and subscription dollars with their movie and TV offerings for the iPhone and iPad, but Sony’s new Crackle app may become master of its domain for one simple reason: It has Seinfeld.
The Crackle app launched on Monday with hundreds of movies and TV shows from Sony properties such as Columbia Pictures, Tri-Star, Screen Gems, and Sony Pictures Classics. But it might be Seinfeld—which remains popular in syndication and in DVD sales 13 years after it went off the air—that gives Crackle an edge over the competition: The show isn’t available from Hulu, Netflix, or iTunes. The downside? Only 10 episodes of the sitcom are currently available.
The upside? Unlike other video services, the content on Crackle is free for viewing—there’s no subscription fee required to view shows and movies. You can choose to create a user account that offers some of your personal information to Sony, which comes with the ability to create a viewing queue that’s available both on the app and at Crackle’s online home.
Crackle is compatible with any device running iOS 4.0 or later.