Verizon FiOS Flex View app now for Apple iPhones, iPads, iTouch 4

Verizon has expanded the devices that are compatible with its FiOS Flex View app to include the Apple iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, original iPad, iPad 2 and iTouch 4. The move follows a refresh of its mobile apps store, now called simply Verizon Apps, and a new emphasis on its apps ecosystem that included the launch of a private app shop for enterprise customers (CP: Verizon overhauls mobile app store; targets enterprise smartphones).

The Flex View app, which launched last November with Windows-only compatibility, lets users view rented or purchased movies and television shows from their various devices — whether they initiated the viewing from their television and want to finish it on their smartphone or started on a handset and watch to catch a few minutes on a laptop. With FiOS Mobile Remote, smartphones and tablets can also act as an "extra remote control," managing DVR recordings.

Verizon is also opening up its cloud to ease mobile viewing, offering the Flex View Library — 32 GB of storage per customer — as a place to store and manage content.

"This means that FiOS subscribers can store their personal photos, music and videos with Flex View and retrieve them just like purchased or rented titles — any time, from any location," Verizon's Heather Wilner blogged.

On Sept. 15, Verizon expanded its 4G LTE network into 26 new markets and beefed up its 4G coverage in San Francisco, Cleveland and Indianapolis — moves that will help it support the growing use of streaming video services.

"Streaming will be the real test for the carriers," Endpoint Technology Principal Analyst Roger Kay told Connected Planet this week, following changes to the Netflix service that have some users miffed (CP: Netflix spins off Qwikster DVD service, puts new pressure on carriers). In this country the service, which claims 25 million members and offers an estimated 50,000-plus titles (to Verizon's 4,440) is the largest source of peak downstream traffic on the Internet, accounting for 30% of bytes, according to Sandvine.

Regarding that juggling act, earlier this week Verizon also began implementing "throttling" policies on its most aggressive 3G users during times of network congestion (CP: Verizon Wireless throttles with a light touch).

Explaining that 95% of subscribers are unlikely to feel a pinch, "High data users," it said in a statement, "will feel the smallest possible impact and only experience reduced data speeds when necessary for us to optimize data network traffic in that area."