Netflix has announced that they are opening their API to all interested parties as of today. All it takes is registering for a free developer account, and you’ll be able to access data for 100,000 movie and TV shows—even for commercial use.
Specifically, this means that anybody can make (and sell) an application pulling information from Netflix’s database, such as, say, an iPhone application that lets you manage your queue. In the past, Netflix has kept pretty tight reins on this information, leading to developers having trouble keeping up—earlier this year, The Little App Factory ceased development of their program NetflixFreak, due to frequent changes in the information that Netflix was providing.
Two years ago, I wrote that Netflix was the company that Apple had to beat in the video market, and I still think that’s true. The company’s been building partnerships with the likes of Roku and Microsoft, and if they can make the transition from a physical-based distribution system to a digital-based one, as they are attempting, then they’ve got a good chance of becoming the prime online video source.
[via Engadget]
I believe that out of all devices, the Xbox 360 actually surpassed all other forms of on demand movies including that of cable providers early this year. You add that in with their Fall Update which integrates NetFlix and they have a pretty full set of chips.