Amazon Prime streaming is more than enough for children, and most families already have it.
And the kids don't care at all who they get the shows from.
I expect Amazon to continue to aggressively compete in this area, not to mention Apple and someday, Google. Netflix is giving away their core advantage -- a huge content library and DVD/Blu-ray backup for anything not-yet streamed. No one else has that. Now they're just like everyone else.
From the customer's perspective, they are not two separate businesses. They are one, strong business (well, were).
Streaming is most valuable when DVD is (a) there as a backup, and (b) managed with the same system.
Netflix has seriously decreased the value of their streaming offering by separating out the DVD and de-integrating their systems.
There is basically no reason to pay for Kwikster now (terrible name BTW), and the streaming is now an extra cost. We'll have our kids use Amazon Prime, which we already pay for. They're much less choosy for content anyway, and it cuts off another monthly bill.
Someone inside of Netflix should have had the balls to tell your CEO this was a stupid idea and customers would hate it.
^^ This is why Netflix is fubar'd. Totally internally looking -- not giving a shit what it means for their customers.
Yeah, we all love paying two bills each month, having to search for content two places, having our ratings queues forked and kept out of sync. Thanks, we're all so glad to hear that it's easier for you.
We'll make it even easier: find new customers. We're gone.
No, we'll be dropping our Kwikster accounts immediately and looking for an alternate streaming provider (cough Amazon cough).
Honestly, it feels like this board is being trolled by Netflix employees or paid PR, who see "no" problem with this move. I don't know a single person in meatspace who thinks these changes are good. Not one.
And people who were putting up (but unhappy) with the 60% price hike are now actively looking to switch.
Hastings is destroying shareholder and customer value at a pace only matched by HP's CEO at this point.
He's not "owing up", that's pure PR. This was hatched back in May, and it was stupid then, stupid now, and will be stupid 5 years from now when what's left of Qwikster is sold off in a fire sale and Netflix shareholders start wishing they had bought Yahoo!
Qwikster is a joke and will be dead or acquired in 5 years.
And Netflix streaming is not ready to carry Netflix forward. We won't be subscribing to Qwikster, and we're already looking for alternatives on the streaming side -- most likely, Amazon, who would never do something this idiotic.
Qwikster is a terrible name, and this is a terrible move.
Hastings is now in competition with that guy running HP to see who can destroy their company first.
Maybe Ballmer will get in the game and spin off Windows/Office from Microsoft, and rebrand them "Facetown", while proclaiming Bing to be the future of the company.
Unbelievable.
Update: I predict Qwikster is dead and buried within 5 years, and someone else pushes past Netflix on the streaming side to be the leader there.
This move is unbelievably stupid. Any trust I had in Netflix over the long haul is gone.
Wait, the Fed is formed to finance WW1, goes on a massive inflationary binge through the 20s and causes the Great Depression, and the takeaway is that the gold is the problem?
^^ This. Plus, the employee is coming on AFTER a substantial fund raising round, and should not expect the same terms since the company is already validated (and capitalized); thus, the "investment" risk is reduced.
I also agree with the other posters: "paycheck" employees are not good hires early on in a startup.
Lame. The language is almost trivial; what matters are the frameworks that go with it. Those were created at NeXT, and Steve Jobs was a big reason that happened.
Those frameworks (with all the updates that have been made over the years) are what run on Mac OS X and iOS today.
Great post! Even the top-level commenter doesn't seem to grasp that early, rapid prototyping only works when someone is around to say "no." Since his return, that's been Steve Jobs -- full stop.
Who can replace that? AFAICT, no one at Apple can do what he does^H^H^H^Hdid. Sure, they can continue to do what he asked them to do, but the CEO job is basically unfilled.
No one in their right mind thinks Tim Cook is a replacement for Steve Jobs.
Maybe Apple survives with lower level people saying yes or no. Personally, IMO, the golden age is over. It was great while it lasted.
I would disagree with your characterization of Steve Jobs and James Cameron as horrible bosses to work for, but I certainly see why you say it.
Many, many people I'm certain have asked themselves "why, oh why can't Steve (or Jim) be nicer" (and still be the same in every other way). People just don't work like that.
And the kids don't care at all who they get the shows from.
I expect Amazon to continue to aggressively compete in this area, not to mention Apple and someday, Google. Netflix is giving away their core advantage -- a huge content library and DVD/Blu-ray backup for anything not-yet streamed. No one else has that. Now they're just like everyone else.