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January 18, 2007

video

Netflix talks Mac support, or lack thereof

Posted Jan. 18, ’07, 8:45 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Video

NetflixThe folks over at The Mac Observer talked to a Netflix rep to discuss the company’s recently announced movie download service. As you might recall, the service (announced Tuesday), would allow Netflix members to watch a certain number of hours of line video per month, commensurate with their subscription plan. But the system only runs on IE and Windows, so Mac users are left out in the cold. What say thee, Netflix?

Mr. Swasey pointed out that the initial rollout of the service is indeed PC only and that Netflix is investing US$40M in the service. The system utilizes Microsoft’s DRM 10.0 via a Browser plug-in, and in the short to medium future, there are no plans to formally support Mac users. However, Mr. Swasey also pointed out that their long term intention is to expand the service to all possible customers, including Mac users.

When asked if Flip4Mac would work, Mr. Swaysey said: “If our Macintosh customers can configure their Browser to view WMV files, that’s fine.”

As TMO goes on to point out, Flip4Mac can’t handle Microsoft DRM, so that’s still a wash. While Netflix may aim for the Mac market in the long term, it doesn’t seem as if they’re necessarily in a hurry to do so. Nor do they seem to see Apple as much of a competitor, citing the fact that they have around four times as many movies available right now.

So it looks like you’re stuck with a good old Parallels/Boot Camp solution if you’re aching to use Netflix’s service. At least the service itself doesn’t cost any extra.


5 Comments

Donn said:

Honestly, will it be long before somebody puts up a DRM-scrubber for this stuff? It's not even about piracy anymore, it's just about getting to use the platform we have and like.

January 18, 2007 11:20 AM
C said:

This is typical management and marketing shortsightedness. They look at "90% Windows+IE" market share and decide there's no point in going after the remaining "10%"

This happened recently at my work with an internet product I worked on (also streaming video). Although I pushed hard for cross-browser/OS support, management and marketing were fixated on the 90% Windows+IE numbers.

Our first month's figures showed that 45% of those trying to view our video streams were either using Firefox or Macs and so couldn't do so.

January 18, 2007 11:45 AM
Farhan Author Profile Page said:

The way I see it is that I am paying the same for a membership plan that includes streaming, yet because of a decision made by Netflix to NOT support the Mac platform I can't use that service. So why should I still pay the same amount the peecee using deweebs that, by the way, can use the streaming service.

My monthly rate should be lowered to indicate that I can't utilize some services because of Netflix.

January 18, 2007 12:01 PM
Shaun said:

I agree. Just like with comcast - they offer all these extra services for PC users but us Mac users pay for services we don't use but subsidize....

I have been using NetFlix for a few months now and I a not sure I am going to continue much longer. They seem to get slower and slower at sending me movies...

January 18, 2007 4:40 PM
Island in the Net Author Profile Page said:

I am a long time Netflix customer but now....Blockbuster now looks better since I can also take advantage of the retail stores.

January 19, 2007 4:09 AM

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