What to do with us
Hacking Netflix has finally made contact with the PR guys at Netflix. It seems that they’re working on a plan to “reach out to the online community.” That sounds like a good thing. With competition in DVD rental by mail from Wal-Mart, Blockbuster, and several others, Netflix will have to differentiate themselves to stay on top.
Their distribution center network is strong (turning Wal-Mart and Blockbuster retail outlets into mail distribution centers would be non-trivial, to say the least), their website is decent, and their selection is comprehensive. However, these advantages are all vulnerable. Since I would rather have a service of Netflix’s caliber than a stripped-down Wal-Mart-style service for a couple bucks less, I want to see Netflix stay profitable (well, return to profitability, I guess, since they posted a loss last quarter). The way for them to achieve this is to be creative and force the competition to play catch-up.
I look forward to seeing what they come up with. How about a web services API like Amazon’s and Google’s?
“They do get it. We just have to give them some time to figure out what to do with us.”