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Netflix Pioneers Industry To Get Left in the Dust?

Posted by Zonk on from the brave-little-tailor dept.

prostoalex writes "The New York Times profiles Netflix, the company that pioneered subscription-based DVD plans where a disc is sent via postal service and no late fee is charged. It describes the company from May 1998, when it originally launched the Web site as a DVD-by-mail rental service (with late fees). Interesting factoids: Netflix operates 30 centers around the country and 11% of San Francisco residents subscribe to the service. Turns out, the company is not really afraid of Blockbuster, Wal-mart and Amazon moving into their markets, but they do consider on-demand Internet-download services to be a threat to their business model."

17 of 374 comments (clear)

  1. TiVo, Netflix, ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Who is the third?! Deaths always come in threes.

    1. Re:TiVo, Netflix, ... by nomadic · · Score: 1, Funny

      BSD!

    2. Re:TiVo, Netflix, ... by Bricklets · · Score: 4, Funny

      TiVo, Netflix, Who is the third?! Deaths always come in threes.

      Apple. They pioneered the personal computer industry but are now dying a slo.... oh wait

      --
      Little Bricklets
    3. Re:TiVo, Netflix, ... by SunPin · · Score: 2, Funny

      BSD is not dead! It's merely dying.

      --
      Laws are for people with no friends.
    4. Re:TiVo, Netflix, ... by snuf23 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I for one will NOT be buying an iPod.
      I won mine for free at a seminar. SO there.

      --
      Sometimes my arms bend back.
  2. Internet? by nuclear305 · · Score: 5, Funny

    "but they do consider on-demand Internet-download services to be a threat to their business model."

    In the US? Please. With current broadband conditions I'd probably have to wait longer than snailmail to get a DVD.

    1. Re:Internet? by Defender+of+Property · · Score: 2, Funny

      And how do you justify your thievery, then? The creation of a motion picture involves thousands of hardworking people. By stealing the fruit of their labors, you impoverish not only them, but also their wives and children, not to mention unborn generations to come. If you had the decency to mug each of them individually at gunpoint, at least they would have a chance to confront their robber. Instead, you choose to steal from afar, skulking in the shadows like the filthy rat that you are.

      How about you get off your fucking ass and start earning a living? My sister, a junior partner at a law firm specializing in the defending intellectual property from scum like you, earns upwards of $500,000 per annum with bonuses. Perhaps by following her lead, you could afford the $20 for a genuine DVD. Of course, last I checked, reputable law schools weren't in the habit of admitting smelly, disgusting communists.

    2. Re:Internet? by Defender+of+Property · · Score: 2, Funny

      To stoop to ad hominems instead of addressing the argument at hand is typical of thieves and criminals at large. I suppose it saves you the trouble of having to rationalize your morally indefensible actions, though even this would doubtlessly prove a mockery of logic.

  3. Could it be? by porcupine8 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Amazon is joining the game? Maybe we'll FINALLY get a company doing this that's willing to rent out porn! Woohoo! They'll leave the others in the dust in no time.

    --
    Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
    1. Re:Could it be? by el-spectre · · Score: 5, Funny

      There are like a dozen sites out there that do this.

      I hear. From my friends. At church.

      --
      "Faith: Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel." - A.B.
    2. Re:Could it be? by kamapuaa · · Score: 4, Funny

      Greencine already rents out porn, although the main focus is foreign and indie titles. The idea of renting porn dozens of other people have had their hands on doesn't sound appealing to me.

      --
      Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
  4. I don't understand this story title by John_Booty · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Netflix Pioneers Industry To Get Left in the Dust?"

    W... w... what? I can't even parse the grammar there. What does that mean? Who's getting left in the dust... Netflix? Industry? Pioneers? Typos in stories are one thing, but at least try to have the story titles make sense, okay?

    --

    OtakuBooty.com: Smart, funny, sexy nerds.
  5. Pioneers get the arrows... by mr_majestyk · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...and settlers get the land.

  6. Re:Netflix is a Dishonest Company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Jeez, they're a huge rental center, they could easily get swamped +1 day.

  7. Re:Netflix is a Dishonest Company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I return them the same day direct to the Post Office...

    A shorter way to say it is "I own a DVD-RW".

  8. Re:Netflix vs Blockbuster and Walmart by michaelhood · · Score: 4, Funny

    by crazyprogrammer (412543)..

    I work as a mail carrier

    "Actually I make more money selling magazines than I ever did at Initrode!"

  9. Here's what people REALLY want to know... by Saeed+al-Sahaf · · Score: 2, Funny

    What does Roland Piquepaille think about this?

    --
    "Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck