Word: netflixing
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...everyone in Silicon Valley is unsympathetic--even those promoting downloading technology. "Studios will not support downloading of new releases for the same reason book publishers don't go direct to paperback," says Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix, the hugely successful online movie-rental company. Hastings has his own version of an iTunes-like solution to the movie-download problem. Right now his 2 million customers rent DVDs online and receive them through the mail, but he says he has always intended to make the transition to movie downloads. Nothing is likely to be launched in the next year, but Hastings...
...much time is open to debate. Ramsay says the industry has five years to figure out how to work file sharing into its business; Hastings thinks it's more like 10. (Both caution that contrary to some reports, we're not likely to see a full-fledged Netflix-TiVo deal in the immediate future.) The delay in incorporating file sharing has a lot to do with the slow speed of most Americans' Internet access. Even with cable and DSL connections that average 2 megabits per second, it can take 16 hours to download a movie with just a third...
...idea for Netflix, like many other great eureka moments in business, came from a mundane experience. It was 1997, and Reed Hastings was six weeks late in returning a copy of Apollo 13 to his local Blockbuster in San Jose, Calif. The late fee was $40, and the former computer scientist thought to himself, 'Never again.' He came up with a simple solution--so simple that Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are still kicking themselves for not having thought of it first. Netflix customers keep a wish list of DVDs they want to see, in order of preference, on www.netflix.com Netflix then...
That's it--no late fees, no standing in line, no walking out of the store with a movie you didn't really want to see. It's working for Netflix's 2 million U.S. subscribers, almost 1 million of whom signed up in the past year alone. In Northern California's Bay Area, Netflix's largest market, the company accounts for an astonishing 10% of all movie rentals. Launched in 1999, the company, based in Los Gatos, Calif., posted its first profit last year ($6.5 million) as revenues grew 78%. It has inspired copycats abroad--Zip in Canada (www.zip.ca...
...company," he says, admitting that he would just as soon discuss artificial intelligence. He thinks he can win the battle with WalMart, which launched a copycat service in 2002, and Blockbuster, which plans to try a similar rental program in the U.S. soon. Hastings has an advantage: like Amazon, Netflix relies on ratings--up to five stars--by its members, who are asked to weigh in on what they rent. These ratings go into the system's algorithm, and out come recommendations for movies you never knew you wanted to see. Hastings intends to start a trial download service next...