Netflix Looking Into Building an iphone App to Stream Movies

Netflix, the leading movie rental service that has been expanding its online streaming video service even further, is trying to take things mobile now. There have been rumors in the past about Netflix looking into creating an iphone app. Well now those rumors just got a little bit juicier. Netflix has been asking customers about their thoughts on a Netflix iphone app and if they would use it to watch movies and television shows on it using Wifi. ATT would never allow Netflix to stream over the 3G network with all the issues that currently exist, but Wifi can be found in houses, public stores, parks, buses and more and could easily be something very beneficial to users.

Here’s the full text of what’s being asked in the survey:

“Imagine that Netflix offers its subscribers the ability to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on their iPhone. The selection availability to instantly watch includes some new releases, lots of classics and TV episodes. There are no advertisements or trailers, and movies start in as little as 30 seconds. You can fast-forward, rewind, and pause or watch again. The movies & TV episodes you instantly watch are included in your Netflix membership for no additional fee.

Whenever you want to instantly watch content on your iPhone, your iPhone must be connected to a Wi-Fi network (such as one you might have at home or at work, or in public places like coffee shops, book stores, hotels, airports, etc.)

If this functionality were available, how likely would you or someone in your household be to instantly watch movies & TV episodes on your iPhone via a Wi-Fi network?”

This would be incredible for Neflix and iphone users alike. Before my iphone was stolen over the summer, this was one app I was specifically asking for. I have taken the bus several times from DC-NY and back and there is Wifi on the bus. Granted it’s probably not strong enough to play a full movie streaming, but the fact that there is that chance would have been amazing. I bet there are others in similar situations, or maybe waiting at an airport that has free Wifi or just sitting in a park with Wifi that easily would take advantage of this.Very smart move on Netflix to take to the mobile mania that is existing. I’m glad to see this is one rumor that is slowly coming true. Now the question is will Apple allow Netflix to have an app. Allowing them to do so will invade their itunes space and hurt sales for Apple most likely. This will be interesting as things pick up and we can find more news about it.

What do you think of being able to stream movies and TV shows on a Netflix iphone App?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Netflix | Tags : iphone app,Netflix

Warner Bros Pressures Red Box Into Delaying New Releases

Posted by Craig Kessler on February 17, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Red Box is the latest victim to the pressures of Hollywood studio giant Warner Brothers. The shark just ate the little fish of Red Box and is making them delay the rental of new movie releases to 28 days later in order for the studio to try to sell more DVD’s in that time period. There have been rumors that Warner Brothers was going to force this type of deal with Red Box. Warner Brothers already delayed new movie releases with Netflix. The difference is Netflix is rapidly growing their online streaming movies and new releases is only about 30% of their movie rental service distributions. Many people like myself use the service more to find older and more obscure titles.

Red Box fully relies on new releases and fans of the service love how the kiosks can be found at local stores they normally shop at, and for only $1. Now with this deal, it will scare users away, really hurting the company big time. This is total crap. Warner Brothers is killing a quality and inexpensive service that customers love because it is trying to make more money by selling crappy DVD’s no one wants. People are getting smarter, and with so many rental options, itunes, and illegally downloading movies, why pay the money to own a crappy movie you will watch once and never again? Not worth it, DVD’s are dying. The only DVD’s I don’t mind getting are the classics you find in the $4.99 section in Best Buy. Other than that, I haven’t bought a new DVD in well over a year, and a lot of that has to do with Netflix. This deal will not make me buy DVD’s again, and it won’t change Red Box customers minds either. Sadly I wouldn’t be surprised if other Hollywood studios do the same type of deal.

Here’s what Warner Brothers had to say.

Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group and redbox today announced a new multi-year distribution agreement that will make Warner Bros. new release DVD and Blu-ray titles available to redbox customers after a 28-day window. The agreement also marks the end of the lawsuit that redbox filed against Warner Home Video in August 2009. Below is a copy of the press release with additional details.

What do you think of Warner Brothers bullying Red Box?

Comments : Post a Comment | Category : Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box,Warner Brothers

The Studios are Attacking the Little Man Red Box Now

Posted by Craig Kessler on February 9, 2010 at 2:30 am

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The movie rentalwar has always been seen as a 2 way battle between heavyweights Blockbuster and Netflix. But there is another up and comer who has made strides in the niche and has won over the hearts of many. Red Box releases movies from kiosks for $1 and can usually be found in many local grocery stores and Wal-Mart’s around the country. The low price and general convenience of having the kiosks where people generally shop anyways makes it easy to rent from without the cost of a monthly subscription.

Things may be changing though with Red Box. On February 1, 2010, Wal-Mart put a 5 limit cap on new release purchases at a time. This may make things very different for Red Box to keep new releases stocked in their kiosks. In the end, this could end up really hurting Red Box from succeeding in this large and very competitive industry, especially if more restrictions are made.

Why?

Studios are putting more pressure on rental companies to delay the release of new movies to rental services. Warner Brothers delayed new releases with Netflix for 28 days, and rumors are more studios will follow. With decreasing DVD sales, studios are looking for ways to boost sales. If rental companies are limited to the amount of new releases, especially in the kiosks, then the studios will end up lowering the selling price of DVD’s in an attempt to lure those customers into buying the DVD’s instead of waiting.

Personally I think that’s a load of crap and a small decrease in a DVD is not going to suddenly grab a consumers attention to make them buy it. Especially if they already have a movie subscription or love the convenience of the local kiosk in their grocery store. Why would a consumer spend close to $20 instead of just waiting a month and paying $1 at Red Box? They won’t.

But while a lot of people use Netflix to rent older movies with their huge selection, Red Box is mainly filled with the newest releases. Any restrictions could jeopardize the company and slowly push them into being extinct which would be bad for the consumer. Hopefully Rex box could push through and figure out a way to stay afloat and successful and grow their name in the marketplace.

Do you use Red Box? What do you think about the restrictions limit on new releases?

Comments : 2 Comments | Category : Movie Marketing, Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix,Red Box

Netflix is Making Streaming Videos Available on the Wii

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 14, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Netflix right now is the stud intern who is making moves and getting his name around the office, except in reality, they are getting around the country. Netflix has been all over the place lately and has been making moves left and right with Warner Brothers, Microsoft, and Sony. They really are making themselves not just the number one online movie rental service, but a force to be reckon with.

It was just confirmed that Netflix made a deal with Nintendo where the Wii will be able to start streaming Netflix on the system coming this spring. Netflix already can stream on the Xbox360 and the PS3, but the wii will be bigger and here is why.

The Nintendo Wii is the fastest growing system in history, and just in December it sold over 3 million game consoles. That’s insane (especially for a system I personally think is nothing special). This means more exposure for Netflix on such a large user base.

To be able to use it you will have to insert a Netflix disc the same way you would a normal game. You have to pre-order the disc (for free) which will arrive in your mail in the spring, and you can get that here.

Even after the deal with Warner Brothers making customers wait 28 days before they can rent new movies, I still love Netflix and the direction they are going in. They are always working hard to improve the service and find new ways to offer the service to their customers on devices they use. Hell I can even see a deal being made with Apple at some point in the future as a way to stream movies on the iphone. Once that 4G or 5G get going, I don’t see why not. Wii owners out there must be happy, having the ability to stream from the console makes it so much easier to view the movie instead of connecting several wires to the TV.

Wii owners out there, let me know what you think?

Comments : 5 Comments | Category : Netflix | Tags : Netflix

28 Day Wait to Watch New Release Movie Rentals Through Netflix

Posted by Craig Kessler on January 12, 2010 at 2:30 am

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Netflix, the leading mail-in movie rental service that delivers millions of movies right to fans mailboxes every day, has recently formed a contract with Warner Brothers regarding its newest releases. Awhile back we announced how there was a deal in the works between Netflix and Warner Brothers regarding the newest movies. Well that deal has been set and now will go into effect for Netflix customers.

The details of the contract are that customers will now have to wait 28 days from the day of the movie DVD release before they can get them from Netflix. This may alter the renting experience for a lot of customers, some who may get very frustrated with the long wait and who could possibly be looking for other options. The benefit for the parties involved is that Warner Brothers wants customers to buy the expensive DVD’s in stores, benefiting the studio’s pockets, and in return will give Netflix a cheaper per unit price on discs. Essentially, it lowers Netflix’s overall costs of obtaining the discs from Warners Bro to rent out to me and you. From a business standpoint, I see how it makes sense. The only ones who may have an issue unfortunately are the customers, the ones paying Netflix these monthly fees. This will also give Netflix more incentive to tap into the digital streaming market, which has yet to be fully explored.

I completely understand why the companies did this because the ‘bottom-line’ is really all that matters. Honestly, I don’t think in the end customers will care at all. The reason is because it sometimes takes a long time to get a brand new DVD as it is. I am currently waiting to receive Inglourious Basterds from Netflix for close to 2 weeks now, but because there is a “very long wait,” it may be a full month before I get the movie to watch on blu-ray. Netflix only has so many DVDs in their warehouse and obviously the newest ones are have the most demand. In fact I think the big shots behind Netflix are cracking a bottle of bubbly on their yachts right now because they basically just made a boat-load of money for really not changing any of their policies. Customers are still going to have to wait for DVDs, and customers will not flee because Netflix is awesome. It’s completely changed how I watch movies, and I’m sure many more feel the same way.

With their ever growing online streaming video catalog and the ability to now utilize the service through the PS3 and soon to be Wii, if anything, they will only get more customers. This is a genius deal for Netflix, and a stupid one for Warner Brothers, who made a last ditch attempt to gain more DVD sales, in a slowly dying industry.

Viva la Netflix!

What do you think of the deal? Would this make you mad enough to leave Netflix?

Comments : 14 Comments | Category : Movie News, Netflix | Tags : Netflix

Netflix May Delay New Releases for 30 Days

Posted by Craig Kessler on November 16, 2009 at 2:30 am

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The popular movie rental service Netflix has been so successful that Hollywood may be taking a big axe on it to chop it down. Users pay for a monthly subscription and have the ability to rent an unlimited amount of movies without late fees. They choose from the enormous online library of movies and then receive them in the mail, and can mail them back to Netflix for free with express shipping. I have been a Netflix convert and love the system. The vast library allows me to see documentaries and independent movies that I never would have seen before. Netflix has been a huge reason to the demise of Blockbuster and Hollywood is feeling the affect.

Users aren’t buying DVD’s the same way they did before the service because they can just get them on Netflix, watch, and return to get the new latest movie. Well those days may be coming to an end. Hollywood execs have been in talks with Netflix to lower the price of the movies to the service if they will wait 30 days

before releasing brand new titles. This would try to then push fans to spend money they don’t need to spend on expensive DVD’s. This ultimately would cut costs by a lot for Netflix, but it also has the potential to lose a lot of customers.

This is another attempt for Hollywood to grease their way to make more money. And ultimately I don’t think it will work. The newest releases are in limited supply on Netflix and sometimes difficult to get. I have waited 30 days before trying to get a new release in the past, although Netflix has been better lately at getting movies out. I wouldn’t cancel my subscription, I also use the movie rental service to get a lot of movies I have not seen, not the big blockbusters I had already seen. A lot of users share my approach, and also with the online streaming abilities, they will not lose many users. DVD’s still are expensive and I have saved a lot of money from switching to Netflix opposed to buying DVD’s or renting from Blockbuster.

I believe Netflix will do this and as a company should because it will save them a lot of money. Hopefully the company can translate the savings and put a lot of it back into the company to help out the users.

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Comments : 5 Comments | Category : Netflix | Tags : Netflix

Netflix Going to Announce Second Big Contest

Posted by Craig Kessler on August 12, 2009 at 10:45 am

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Netflix had released a competition in 2006 called the $1 million competition. They challenged anyone to find an algorithm that would increase the accuracy of their movie recommendations by 10%, with anyone who could accomplish this receiving $1 million. The movie rental company wanted to give users more accurate movie recommendations, helping them out, in turn bettering the company.

After 41,691 submissions from 4,670 contestants, Netflix has found a winner. The winner was found last month after 3 years of the contest running. The winner will be announced in September. With news of the winner, and the PR to boot, Netflix will release a second competition along with the news of the winner of the first.

There are very limited details now, keeping the secrecy is obviously going to raise excitement, but Netflix Chief Product Officer Neil Hunt said this about the contest.

Beauty Shop dvdrip “The advances spurred by the Netflix Prize have so impressed us that we’re planning Netflix Prize 2, a new big money contest with some new twists.

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Here’s one: three years was a long time to compete in Prize 1, so the next contest will be a shorter time limited race, with grand prizes for the best results at 6 and 18 months. download Necronomicon

While the first contest has been remarkable, we think Netflix Prize 2 will be more challenging, more fun, and even more useful to the field.”

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This is a very smart decision on the company. I love Netflix and what they have done for the movie renting industry. They gained a lot of PR and praise for their unique contest which was highly successful not just from a marketing perspective and PR spectacle, but it worked since they accomplished what they hoped to find. Anything involving users directly being able to help the company is great, and Netflix nailed it.

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Comments : 2 Comments | Category : Netflix | Tags : Netflix

Netflix Bumped Up Costs to Rent Blu-Ray

Posted by Craig Kessler on March 30, 2009 at 4:14 pm

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