That would be a killer for me - I’m not a fan of Apple products in general (too expensive, “their way or the highway”, etc.). I can only imagine how quickly they would change Netflix to be only available on the Apple TV format.
Oh, well… I probably watch too much TV anyway.
I know what you mean. How many current Netflix subscribers would drop? Unless a condition of buy required them to keep on everything as it is now.
Ditto.
Apparently this has been on the news on and off for a few years now.
Also, Netflix is reportedly hemorrhaging money and has a huge market cap. Apple would need to be crazy to buy netflix right now; I don’t think they would gain anything by such aquicition.
I’ve only seen this happen one the acquiring company wants the IP portfolio of the other… but does Netflix have any patents worthwhile paying 20 to 40 billion dollars?
the question is would the number of new subscribers offset those that would drop … Apple does have a HUGE share of that sort of market… it would be interesting to see.
Oh, June 13th is going to be fun. AND, ONE MORE THING…(Hello Tablo)…
I really can’t see Apple pulling Netflix support from all the non Apple devices… I COULD see them using the purchase as a way to expand their content sales though.
Something like how the Amazon Prime apps work, here is all the included content, but since you liked “X”, you might also like “Y”, available to purchase now for ONLY $16.99…
What makes Netflix so popular is how easy it is to get to it. If Apple wanted to stay with the business model of being available only on their devices, then I don’t think they would buy Netflix. If they did buy it, it seems it would be a business decision to move in a slightly different direction.
The only other way I could see it working would be a hybrid, where they keep support for TVs and DVD players with Netflix built in (since they don’t sell those anyway) but maybe crush Roku & Fire TV boxes support to push those customers to Apple TV… That MIGHT work, especially if they finally give in and add Amazon Prime to their box.
I could be wrong though, and I admit the idea of them acquiring Netflix scares me as it would undoubtedly increase my cost in some form, whether its having to replace my Roku’s, buying more content or dropping Netflix and searching for more alternatives, it would hit me in some way so I hope this never happens.
Netflix has content rights from the DVD days, which is a big advantage for Netlfix. Netflix also has some great engineers and could pivot to providing other services.
That being said, I don’t see Apple buying Netflix as it doesn’t really give Apple anything new, especially for the cost. Sure the grandfathered content rights are nice but not crucial for Apple. Apple is known for not entertaining distractions to their core business. Acquiring Netflix would be a distraction.