The world of Apple Apps is kind of slowing down recently. We’re entering the third quarter of 2009 and companies are focusing their power elsewhere or saving the best until the Christmas season when surely millions of people will be opening Apple iPods on December 25th.
However, Crenk does have one piece of good news for you concerning the app situation with the iPhone – NetFlix.
Yup! That’s right. According to initial reports its thought that NetFlix will be making a move onto the iPhone with users being able to use their existing subscription. The service is currently available on the XBOX 360, PS3, PC and Mac. It will also be on its way to the iPod Touch should these rumours hold water.
In fact, I think that they do. NetFlix want to be the biggest internet movie company so making an app for the world most popular smart phone would indeed make perfect sense. By compatibility issues alone, millions would rather be with Netflix for all their devices rather than several.
Quality would be an issue but not a big one. Recently, AT&T upgraded their 3G internet service especially to large urban areas so downloading wouldn’t be too painful. I imagine their would be separate movie files for the iPhone as you don’t need huge TV quality files when it’s all going to be shrunk down onto a small handheld screen.
In summary, this would make for one of the best apps yet and would use many of the good features such as the widescreen and good audio on the iPhone.
Netflix, an extremely popular online movie renting site, has done what other sites have been unable to do so successfully, bring the end of brick and mortar video renting locations. Not only have physical video rental locations dwindled, but other online competitors simply could not get the following that Netflix was able to acquire with its extensive selection and quick mailing turnaround.
But even with all of its successes, Netflix was still marred by one fact, their streaming option was not supported by Apple computers. Earlier this year Netflix announced that members of their site would be able to directly stream content from their site, making it easier on the user to view as opposed to having to wait for the mail out. This easily accessible option drove streaming use through the roof, but only for Window’s users. Mac owners were left out in this major announcement until now.
Last week it was announced by Netflix, Inc. that testing was being done to ensure that Mac users would be able to stream content by the end of this year. The announcement which many members thought would never come, came with a catch. The streaming technology would only be available for Intel based Macs, and not be supported by older models.
Thanks to Microsoft’s Silverlight technology, Netflix is able to bring it’s streaming library of over 12,000 movies and TV shows to non-windows users. I personally find it ironic that the only way streaming media could have been brought to the Mac was via a windows bridge, ala Silverlight. Nevertheless, those holding onto older Macs have a reason to ditch it for the Intel based models.
Currently there is a Mac media player that is available for beta testing. The product, now available for public beta testing can be downloaded by anyone. The beta as admittedly experienced several bugs that may interfere with the quality of the movie played, but plans from Netflix are to have most if not all of these bugs worked out by the end of the year.
Personally I love Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” choice, and have longed for support on the Mac. Interestingly though, the DRM only allows a certain number of machines that you can watch your streaming media on. This limitation is similar to what iTunes has with its account set up. I’m not necessarily sure this will be much of a problem for most of us, but the limitation seems silly to begin with.
Thus far the player has worked fine on my machine, but even with my limited use I may not come across all of the bugs that are expected to pop up. If you are using the public beta software to stream movies on a mac, I’d like to year about your experiences and whether this was a good move for Netflix, Inc. Make sure to leave your comments and be heard!
For those of you who are dedicated gamers, and rely on Gamefly to feed your need, here’s even more of a reason to stay with the game renting site. Just announced, Gamefly is going to offer their site through mobile access.
What does this mean?
Now you can add games to your queue, purchase the games you want or are renting currently, and re-order your queue on the fly if something catches your attention. The gaming site boasts millions of users, and having access from your mobile device will only make it even more popular.Gamefly, which is to gamers what Netflix is to movie buffs, offers the latest in new games and even offers an extensive back catalog of older games for some of us more nostalgic players.
Signing is is just as easy with the power of your account at your fingertips!
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