+1

Paid downloads have been available for a long time via 48-hr rentals or purchases. However I found it quite frustrating not to be able to borrow or download videos that I could otherwise stream on my paid netflix and amazon prime subscriptions. Streaming is useless on airplanes and I don't like paying for things I can get for free.

Kudos to Amazon ^ for filling a need, and hopefully netflix will get on the wagon soon.

As for laptops, you can blame the studios or your friends the video pirates as I am sure Amazon would like to offer that product. Hopefully they will see the light soon but in practice I find the ipad screen sufficient - airplane viewing will never be big screen TV quality much less movie theatre experience.