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Netflix Gauging Interest In an iPhone App
gollum123 writes "A new survey sent out to Netflix subscribers indicates that the iPhone might be the next device that its streaming service rolls out on in the coming months. (The NY Times credits Hacking Netflix for the tip.) According to a tip sent to Hacking Netflix, the subscription video company is now asking users how likely they would be to use an iPhone app to view movies via its online streaming service. According to the survey, an iPhone app would give users all the same functionality that they have when streaming on a PC or other device, including all the same movies and TV shows without advertisements or trailers. If the app is rolled out, the ability to watch on the Apple mobile device would be offered at no additional charge to existing Netflix subscribers. There is good news for AT&T implied in the survey questions: it appears that the app would require users to be connected to a Wi-Fi network."
Screw the iPhone. This would actually make me want an iPad (and was actually the killer app I was expecting to be previewed when the iPad was demonstrated).
Wouldn't this be similar to 'offering a function alreday available' a la iTunes movie rentals? While it would stream where the iTunes won't, it still will directly compete against Apple's iTune movie rentals.
Attention... all grammer nazi"s! Is they're anything; wrong with: my post,
The ultimate move to the iPhone mobile platform will be the AiMind software that flits about the 'Net.
Why all the love for a single platform? Is it so hard to write an app that will run on multiple platforms? Rim, WinMobile,, Symbian, Android/Linux.... Why all the hate for other platforms? Most outsell the iPhone
Hah, that will show them!
I hope they have first gaged the interest, so they know how much of it there is to gauge!
If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
I was actually searching online the other day for news on this. Whether or not such an app would be approved as the above poster stated is a different matter. I'm not sure how practical it would be either, watching a full length movie would pretty much drain the battery without an external power source. Also, video over 3g would be questionable, waiting for a movie to buffer every 30 seconds would kill the enjoyment.
If you're at home, you've got a bigger screen. If you're at work, or a McDonalds/Starbucks/whatever, you probably won't be watching movies. I can see some applications for this, but not being able to use it outside a hotspot certainly hobbles it.
On the other hand, I'm sure a lot of AT&T customers won't complain, as US cellular bandwidth is already spread thin.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
I know that some people really do, apparently, want to watch full length movies on tiny, tiny, tiny devices. I know that eventually these devices will have decent video out or projection capabilities. I get that I'm not the only market, and I'm totally fine with that.
But what I don't understand is... the media is really putting out the impression that everybody wants to consume TV/movies/books on miniscule screens like the iPhone. Even on an airplane I think that'd get tedious quickly. And I've seen nothing to indicate that the iPhone is competent to deliver video on that scale, even over wifi (if you're on a plane that's serving wireless movies, how busy is that wifi?). Oh well, at least Netflix has the sense to gauge how big the market is.
Can the iPhone battery even make it through 75 minutes of video + wifi?
Maybe this is all really for the iPad. That would make more sense.
So is NetFlix big enough to avoid having the app pulled when someone realizes you can see non-PG13 films?
"Have you ever thought about just turning off the TV, sitting down with your kids, and hitting them?"
iTunes sells non-PG13 films.
Airplane Photos, Airline News, Planespotting Guides
It'd be useful if the home site detected the browser and redirected to the mobile site. Many probably don't even know about mobile.netflix.com because they don't get redirected. Would be great if sub-queues could be accessed when mobile, but they wanted to kill those anyway... :(
I should hope that an iPhone app would mean that the streaming would not take place over silverlight. If that's true, there's a much better chance that an app that emulates the protocol can be written for things like Linux (Including Maemo) and Android. If they could just bring back streaming over Flash (or add streaming over HTML 5), then it would be much more trivial to grant support for all these other platforms.
Ah well, I dream with fingers crossed.
Give me streaming support for Netflix on my AppleTV similar to what Xbox 360 currently enjoys and I'd be using it many times more than I would even be considering the iPhone app for the same.
If you're at home, you've got a bigger screen.
No, someone else in the household has a bigger screen. You, on the other hand, have to use the iPod Touch while waiting for someone else to finish.
So is NetFlix big enough to avoid having the app pulled when someone realizes you can see non-PG13 films?
They are big enough to a bribe to Apple, yes. Don't know if they feel a need to or if the two will approach each other like that.
....no. I dislike Netflix for trying to help force me to buy movies I may or may not like. Making me wait 28 days before a new release can be sent to your door. No thanks.
On AT&T? Not interested.
On someone else's network? Yeah, maybe. How about an Android app?
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Sure Netflix will have an app, that is until Crapple decides to block their app and only allow crapple itunes movies for a pay per fee. Crapple is just as evil as M$ and Google.
I'd so much rather be able to watch Netflix stuff via MythTV that it's not even funny. My iphone is for only worth using for 15 minutes or less at a time. After that, the small screen wears on me, and I realize that that may just be me. I guess an iPad would solve that problem, but really, I'd rather watch movies across the room on the tv, rather than on my lap, unable to move my arm, with my spouse looking over my shoulder.
Hey Netflix! Let us watch stuff on linux!
There are more linux desktop support than iphone owners, yet we still get no netflix client.
Or hell they could roll out HD on Mac or Windows.
I've converted a variety of media to be played on small screens with the thinking that it would be great for when I have travel-downtime. For me at least, it does get tedious. I just don't enjoy such a small screen. Someone else mentioned an iPad, and for me, that would probably be the tipping point (I'd think about getting one), but a cellphone screen doesn't cut it. Especially since I tend to prefer reading during downtime than watching TV.
On the airplane wi-fi front, I was on a US Air flight recently, and they had wi-fi onboard. Since it was new, they were running a promotional deal where you get one free flight's worth of wi-fi if you give them your email addy (little do they know I'm an email admin... and have virtually unlimited email addresses!). I was floored at how fast it was, considering that I was, you know, hurtling through the air at 30,000 ft. I transferred files to and from my fileserver, I had an SSH session open, and the latency didn't seem any worse than my connection at home. Impressed... but I probably still wouldn't pay for it (just as I don't pay the extra $60 for 4 more inches of legroom; the $6 Jack Daniels can easily compensate for that). Now, granted, this was all subjective-- I didn't run any speed tests-- but I was expected something like modem-speed, so I was pleasantly surprised.
How about you go 5 seconds without having mindless drivel streamed into your fucking brain?
I would if you'd post anonymously!
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
If you're at home, you've got a bigger screen.
But possibly not a means to play Netflix upon it. You can direct a video feed out from an iPhone (or iPod Touch).
If you're at work, or a McDonalds/Starbucks/whatever, you probably won't be watching movies.
What about traveling though? Lots of airports have WiFi, that usually costs too much but now there's a compelling reason to pay.
Or even better, what about when you are at a hotel without a laptop, many people do not want the bulk of a laptop when they travel.
Never mind, that an iPhone app means it will also work on an iPad which is a more that acceptable viewing size for most people.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Personally for phones, I'd me more interested on them first supporting the major platforms such as Nokia
Netflix operates in the United States, and Nokia is not a major platform in the United States. The three major carriers (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T) don't subsidize Nokia phones (or at least they don't advertise so), nor do they give a discount for bringing your own handset. Even if you live in a T-Mobile covered area, I couldn't find a Nokia product in a Best Buy store either.
Nokia beat them hands down in the mobile market
In what country is Nokia beating Apple?
I've been on a number of international flights, and watched 6-7 hours of video on the iPhone before.
The screen size is a bit small. But if you are in Cattle Class, I prefer it to laptops because there is just no room for normal laptops (that is an area where a netbook would be better). Also, I personally find it annoying when people sitting next to me fire up a big glowing screen, so I think it's a little nicer to keep the distraction for other passengers to a minimum (I also almost never recline my seat, but that may be too extreme for some).
As mentioned in another post though, an iPhone client opens up an iPad client. You don't think it is coincidence they are just asking if people want this now, after they have said for a while they had no mobile device plans? Now obviously that's not going to work too well on a flight (unless they support caching? Seems unlikely) but it does mean you could travel with just an iPad instead of a laptop and have as much video as you wanted on tap in the hotel.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Wouldn't this be similar to 'offering a function alreday available' a la iTunes movie rentals?
iTunes movie rentals are on-device downloaded content. Netflix would be streaming, just like the Pandora app streams music just fine. Since they allow one I don't see why they would ban the other.
It would probably eliminate offline caching though, which would be a shame for plane travel. We'll see (if they do it).
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I wish they would focus on *ALL* the desktops FIRST, then worry about phones. What about a Linux compatible Netflix player? I know quite a few people who have waited a very long time and are irritated that absolutely nothing has been done.
Meanwhile, sign this petition: http://www.petitiononline.com/Linflix/
Sure, it might not amount to anything, but you have no right to complain if you haven't at least tried (and this only takes 60 seconds or something).
How about you go 5 seconds without having mindless drivel streamed into your fucking brain?
Actually I'm still waiting for the Germans to install a chip for faster streaming of that drivel....
There's a nap for that.
"I believe in Karma. That means I can do bad things to people all day long and I assume they deserve it." : Dogbert
"U.S. carriers carry these phones; therefore, it is worthwhile for a company serving the U.S. to port an application for watching feature films to these phones." I disagree with you reasoning. First, it would fall over if nobody actually has those phones. I'm pretty sure iPhone and iPod Touch have an order of magnitude more market share in the U.S. than Symbian. Second, these people might not have an interest in watching a 90-minute movie on a screen the size of that in an iPod Nano. There's a reason that the early commercials for the second-generation iPod Nano used clips from music videos and not feature films. None of the carriers you listed have Maemo phones like the N900; all appear to be Symbian.
AT&T: Most of these are flip phones, and flip phones tend not to have a big enough screen for watching a feature film. For example, the Nokia 6650 has a 2.2" screen, and the Surge has a 2.4" screen.
T-Mobile: There's a map for that. It appears I would have no 3G and spotty EDGE when visiting my mother. It has the most Nokia models of the three carriers, but no big-screen ones.
Verizon: After I put in my zip code, it forgot I wanted to limit my search to Nokia products. The first page of results consisted of about 20 BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, Android, and webOS handsets and zero Symbian or Maemo, showing me that Verizon doesn't feel like marketing Nokia. I clicked limit search to Nokia, and the results were Nokia Twist (2.4" screen) and Nokia Shade (2.0" screen).
It is apparent to Netflix (from its indie apps gallery) that there is a huge interest in mobile apps, especially those dedicated to Netflix queue management. It really is a useful application for people who like to add new films recommended by friends, TV programs, and ads.
Er, planet Earth?
Netflix doesn't operate throughout "planet Earth". As I understand it, the bulk of Netflix's Watch Instantly business is done in the United States of America.
I don't have the data for each country, but if they're not doing so well in one country, that's going to be offset by other countries.
If Netflix is considering whether to develop or not to develop an application for a given platform, it will take into account the platform's market share only among those countries for which the movie studios have sold them a license to transmit their works.
David Lynch has already taken the survey.
You can plug a FAR SUPERIOR media player into your TV.
Which each customer would first have to buy.
That FAR SUPERIOR media player will also cost far less.
The combination of an iPhone and a FAR SUPERIOR media player does not cost far less than an iPhone alone. Netflix would be able to sell this service to people who already own an iPod Touch or iPhone for other reasons.
Better device. Cheaper price. THAT is the value of open standards
Silverlight digital restrictions management is not "open standards". Let me know when one can watch Netflix on Ubuntu, Fedora, or openSUSE.
rather than some lame walled garden
Netflix Watch Instantly is available only in the United States. Since WHTI went into effect, the United States itself is a walled garden, but that's beside the point.
Yeah but netbooks suck. You're running cheap crappy hardware with a clunky badly designed dinosaur of an OS. Why the heck would you want to do that when you can have a slick well made product with well designed software actually made for the device for a couple hundred dollars more? A netbook might be fine for a kid if you don't mind worrying about it getting broken, infected, or just plain hard to use but it isn't a product for anybody that wants to get anything done. The iPhone was usable by my daughter when she was six months old (and she is an expert at 20 months) and is usable by my non-geek parents and enjoyed by uber-geek me. I can't say the same for any netbook or even PC I've seen. I even tried a XO which IMO is a cute device but has one of the worst interfaces ever seen. I actually like netbooks but seriously they don't even compete on usability or durability. The one real fault I've had with the iPhone/iTouch was the screen being to small to effectively use for some tasks such as web browsing, reading large books/documents, and VNC. I think the iPad is going to solve that issue pretty well. It's a lot handier for most people to watch Netflix on than a netbook and is far more likely to dock to your tv. The only device I'd say is likely to compare, thus far, would be the Archos. If Apple can throw in nice features like parental controls and network printing and file sharing they'll be a solid option as a family and school device. Of course I'll hold out for the 3D movies that'll come out with the iPad 3D that uses a built-in holographic projector. The company that puts out a consumer computer that has such a display and the ability to take input from my hands waving around in the air will fulfill my childhood fantasies. ;)
At what price learning? At what cost wisdom? The price is a man's peace of mind, and the cost is his life.