Netflix CEO dreams of iPhone, TV, and game console ubiquity
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Sep 22nd 2009 5:37AM
posted Sep 22nd 2009 5:37AM
When a CEO is asked to dream we shouldn't be surprised when he dreams big. In an Reuters interview with Netflix CEO, Reed Hastings, we learn that Netflix is working in parallel to bring its services to "all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, all the Internet TVs." Naturally, he added that the Xbox deal is exclusive for the time being. The company is currently focused on the big screen but "will get to mobile eventually, including the iPhone." And while the streaming business is "booming," he says the DVD business is still growing as well, likely peaking in "5 years or so" with people still doing DVD-by-mail over the next 20 years. Reed then adjusted his monocle and disappeared in a flash of cigar and brick-and-mortar ash.[Via All Things Digital]
Let's not forget streaming support for Linux.
You better watch what you say Engadget, and keep the praises coming. This guy buys a TON of web ads on your site and many others. Say one stupid thing, and this guy will cut your balls off. So keep the happy Netflix friendly posts coming.
Yes, please. I don't use Windows, so the streaming video service is useless to me. I could dual-boot and yada yada watch Netflix, but that's a lot of hassle to overcome THEIR shortcomings.
I find this statement ironic, coming from a company who took a console exclusivity deal.
PS3 Support would be great, though right now I'd settle for some HD streaming to PC.
Netflix possibly coming to my PS3 and Palm Pre? Get out of here! Now all I need for them to do is add Netflix support to my fridge. What's that? They are? \O/ WOHOO
P.S. I'm not drunk
I'm on top of the world and I want a blimp
Reuters should have asked him if Netflix will ever get around to implementing subtitles or close captioning with their streaming software. HULU figured out a way to do it, along with other sites, so it is totally feasible. The company is just being cheapskates in hoping the problem will go away or take care of itself.
Canadians dream of Netflix in any form.
True on that note!!
We're dying over here, need the Flix.
I'm using PlayOn to get Netflix on my PS3 but I would some native support.
Playon is to expensive.. maybe 19.99 but not worth 40. Netflix need to get on the iPhone and PS3 bandwagon sooner rather than later.
Dear Netflix CEO: You know what would truly rock our world? If you'd stop spamming everybody with pop-under ads.
I second that.
Try turning off third-party cookies in Tools/Options of the browser and that should help a little.
It won't cut it off completely because they are browser related.
I think Firefox sells that pop-under space to them.
What ads? Seriously. Hulu is the only thing I don't block the ads on because it is more trouble than it is worth to block them.
I would love to see Netflix on my Palm Pre and PS3 (currently use PlayOn).
Everyone knows Apple and at&t would never allow streaming using there lacking 3g. The app would be crippled like the SlingMobile app is to wifi only. Sprint and Palm on the other had, seem like the better way to move towards from a solid business standpoint as they both want to gain customers and are willing to make things happen to do it.
Now that the PS3 is $299, if they can get some native Netflix streaming on it without any of that ungainly multibox PlayOn business, then I would gladly pay up the 3 Benjies.
Finish adding Surround Sound before any of those other's please.
DVD for the next 20 years? No chance. Just because VHS had such a long run won't mean DVD will. Growth is exponential, not cyclical.
With the new FCC Net Neutrality regs, they better be getting their AT&T / iPhone Netflix streaming app ready to launch.
Netflix sent me an online questionnaire not that long ago which asked if I was a PS3 customer, then continued to ask how interested I would be in a disc that I can put in my PS3 that would to Netflix on demand. A neat idea because it would bypass the Playstation Store altogether since Sony itself competes with this since it sells movies and rentals
Actual mail might not be around in 15 years nevermind Netflix by mail in 20...
I know he has to say that to keep his stock people happy, but it just doesn't seem likely.
Okay, mail might survive somehow, but movie streaming is going to be huge in the next decade.
DVD by mail may peak in five years (probably more like 2 or 3), but then it will drop sharply.
Once we get all movies streaming in hi-def for a monthly fee, why bother with mail?
No more broken discs, wrong discs, stolen discs ...
piracy?
No thanks.
Oh, do you mean streaming causes more piracy?
I highly doubt that. It shouldn't increase it. In fact, it might even go down.
If people can get any movie they want for a reasonable monthly fee, why would they risk it?
They just need to be smart in pricing, perhaps one price for most movies, and a premium price for new releases.
Security will be much improved by then anyway.
Everything will be 1s and 0s, eventually. Even clothing and food will be.
We might as well get the ball rolling.
@Tim
PlayOn also gives you Hulu, CBS, ESPN, and many others on your PS3. It's highly worth the cost.
@Nate
Apple has nothing to do with bandwidth being throttled on the iPhone. That is all AT&T.
I have a similar dream, except it involves Hastings being removed from the Microsoft board of directors.