Netflix is seemingly everywhere now, at least in the U.S., yet there are actually still many devices the service isn’t available on.
Netflix CEO Reed Hastings has now confirmed that an iPhone app will appear one day, but not before Netflix finds its way onto all games consoles, Blu-ray players, and Internet-enabled televisions.
From Mail To The Web
Netflix was formed in 1997 as a service delivering DVDs via mail to consumers across the United States. But its name suggests that even then its founder and CEO, Reed Hastings, was envisioning an Internet future for the company.
And so it came to pass. Netflix now enables its subscribers to watch over 17,000 movies and episodes of television series via their computers or one of a number of Internet-enabled devices and the ‘Watch Instantly’ service.
Netflix Devices
Netflix ‘Watch Instantly’ is available on a range of different devices. First came the Roku box, developed by a former Netflix employee, which has now added Amazon and other streaming partners to its line-up.
This was promptly followed by a hybrid streaming/Blu-ray player, a range of Internet-enabled televisions, and the Xbox 360. But while that little lot are an impressive set of devices, there are clearly many more out there.
Netflix iPhone App?
One device many would like to see Netflix on is the Apple iPhone. And it is going to happen, just not quite yet. Speaking to Reuters recently, Hastings said:
“[A partnership with Apple is] something that’s likely to come over time. But nothing in the short term. (With) movie watching, we are not focused on mobile yet, but (instead) on the TV, on Blu-ray and on the video game consoles. We will get to mobile eventually, including the iPhone.”
“Eventually we want to be on all the game consoles, all the Blu-ray players, all the Internet TVs. So we are working in parallel with all of those efforts. Currently our Xbox deal is exclusive and we haven’t characterized it more than that.”
Big Ambitions
Hastings clearly has big ambitions for Netflix, with a desire to get the ‘Watch Instantly’ service on as many devices as is humanly possible over the next few years.
The PS3 and Wii should probably be the primary goal because of the potential of games consoles for streaming Web TV content, but that exclusive Xbox deal with Microsoft is obviously a sticking point.
Conclusions
Hopefully, this move to more devices will coincide with a move outside of the States and the option to subscribe purely to the Web streaming service rather than having it included as a free add-on to the DVDs via mail core business.
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