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Netflix CEO says consumers just aren't interested in long-form video on portable devices
We were undeniably excited about Netflix coming to the iPhone and iPad, but according to CEO Reed Hastings -- who spoke on the subject during a Web 2.0 Summit panel discussion -- that move has actually had little impact on the company's business. In his mind, these results indicate that consumers just aren't interested in streaming long-form video on mobile devices and instead prefer the experience on bigger screens. To support his conclusion, Hastings cited how Netflix integration on the Xbox 360, PS3, and Mac significantly grew its subscriber base. While we personally disagree with his judgment on mobile and grant him honorary captain obvious credentials for his bigger screen preference remarks, we'll still entertain the possibility that Hastings may know somethings we don't. That's not to say the phrase correlation does not imply causation isn't tickling the back our throat though. But what about you, reader? Are you taking advantage of the little red app on your Apple portable devices or even on your new Windows Phone 7 handset? Hit the poll on the next page to tell us what's up.
Determining Game Center's current popularity
The always insightful Stuart Dredge over at MobileEntertainment has crunched some numbers on Game Center's actual popularity. Since Apple's own gaming social network on the iPhone launched, I've heard lots of different things from developers in terms of how they're implementing and using it. Some developers jumped in head-first, bringing all of their apps on board quickly, while others have only brought one or two apps on board at a time, opting instead to wait and see what their users are into. And some developers haven't even started on it yet, instead waiting to see how adoption works. So, in order to get something resembling hard numbers, Dredge took the reported sales of a few popular App Store apps, and then he compared those to the number of players listed as playing them in Game Center. You can see the top few examples above -- keep in mind that this is a picture painted with a roller rather than a fine brush; it was just created to give an idea of what's happening rather than exact figures. But there are some conclusions to draw -- a title like Angry Birds, with over 6 million players, is only seeing about a quarter of those users using the Game Center integration. At the same time, a newer title like Cut the Rope has a majority of its players using Game Center. In other words, Game Center is still in the early adopter stage -- the mass market of iPhone users hasn't yet jumped on board. But users who seek out and find the latest and greatest apps (and Cut the Rope is a hit that's only a few weeks old) are signed up and playing on Game Center already.
Microsoft denies author's claim of impending Xbox2Go
In a denial that should come as a surprise to no one (what, like they were really gonna tip their hand this early?), Microsoft's Xbox chief for Northern and Eastern Europe told UK tech site T3 "that we're not even thinking about handhelds at the moment." Neil Thompson's remarks came just days after the Internet was buzzing about a claim made by author Dean Takahashi in his new book, Xbox 360 Uncloaked, that said half of the 360 development team immediately began working on a portable 'box right after the next-gen console was launched last November. Thompson went on to say that although the big M has no plans to release a PSP-like device, the huge mobile phone market offers the company a "really good opportunity" to connect people with "other entertainment experiences." You heard it here first, folks: instead of wasting all that money on hardware development, Microsoft is simply going to develop an Xbox emulator for cellphones that lets you pull content directly from the Live service (either that, or Thompson was just toeing the party line in order to keep the wraps on this supposed Xbox2Go -- you be the judge).
Pioneer updates Carrozzeria in-car entertainment systems
If you're looking to play almost every audio/video format known to man in your car, even MiniDiscs, then Pioneer has just introduced a whopper of an in-dash system that may be perfect for you (well, if you live in Japan, that is). The AVIC-VH009MD in-car multimedia system, which takes over the high end of Pioneer's Carrozzeria lineup, features a 5.1 channel amp, dedicated TV tuner, GPS receiver with birds-eye view, and a head unit that contains a 7-inch screen and plays back DVDs, CDs, MDs, and MP3/WMA files as well as DivX-encoded videos. Also new to the Carrozzeria line is the AVH-P90DVA, which also has a TV tuner and 7-inch screen, but *only* supports DVDs, CDs, VCDs, and the aforementioned codecs plus AAC, but not MiniDiscs or navigation. The all-in-one system will go for a cool $3,200, while the AVH-P90DVA costs $2,300, although if you want to listen to tracks from your cellphone, you'll have to forgo a lot of these niceties and stick with the Bluetooth-equipped AVIC-S1 that we brought you the other day.Read- AVIC-VH009MDRead- AVH-P90DVA
