The service is browser-based (you can see the specially-formatted for Safari mobile website here) which lets Amazon avoid the 30 percent commission that Apple takes for all sales that take place in iTunes. When a consumer makes a purchase, the music is stored in the cloud and can be accessed in the cloud or saved to a library and played from a variety of devices, including those running Android. The service will also offer daily deals like 69 cent songs and $5 albums as well as individualized recommendations based on purchase history.

“Since the launch of the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod touch, a top request from customers has been the ability to buy music from Amazon right from their devices,” said Amazon’s VP of Music Steve Boom in a Thursday release announcing the store.

From a strategic perspective, the offering shows Amazon’s determination to muscle into the cloud-based entertainment market which, on the music front, is dominated by Apple and Google.

Last week, Amazon offered another incentive for consumers to try its cloud service by providing a free digital copy of any CD they have bought in the last 15 years. The deal also applied to new CDs they buy.

Amazon is making the software attractive, not only with feature parity to its Android version but also with a storage deal for new users. While everyone gets 5 GB of storage for free, for a limited time, Amazon is throwing in unlimited space for MP3 and AAC (.m4a) music files at no additional cost when purchasing a Cloud Storage data plan for other files.

As someone who quickly moved away from the iTunes music store when Amazon offered DRM-free music at a low cost, I gave the app a quick run-through on my iPhone 4S. It’s surely as good as the Android version and, in my opinion, looks even better.

Streaming songs I have on Amazon’s servers sounded great and a quick download test worked fine. You can manage playlists in the app and it will pull in any existing music on your device for playback. The added benefit here: AirPlay support is built into the app. I did find one minor issue though, as the app doesn’t support a landscape view.

True fans of the iTunes music store may not see much benefit here. But as an advocate and heavy user of cross-platform solutions, I think Amazon’s support for iOS is great news. And with the daily deals offered in Amazon’s MP3 store, the company could get a few more sales from iOS owners that it couldn’t before.