I agree that it’s a dumb idea. I’m mostly interested in the dvd-by-mail service so that I can see the newest movies. I haven’t yet done so, but I planned to drop the streaming service since I use it so rarely. I think he’ll regret the spinoff, unless he can come up with some way to vastly expand the streaming selection.
This is insane. Splitting the websites is bad enough, but charging people separately?! It is like they are trying to kill the company.
The lack of selection, particularly in children’s programming (which I mentioned up-thread) was one of the reasons I canceled my subscription. This is another one. I love bonus features on DVDs and it really pissed me off when they started sending out stripped-down versions with no bonus features.
I’ve gone back to using my local video store until there’s an online streaming service I can be happy with. Currently there isn’t.
I think they’ve really blown it. I dropped them totally. I don’t mind a small price increase, but to jump the way they did and then to have such a poor choice of streaming videos to boot is just a bad business decision.
And the new name is just stupid. It feels like they are trying (unsuccessfully) to disassociate themselves from those evil netflix people that raised their prices.
When you phrase it like that it makes me wonder if they’re gearing up to sell off the physical side of things. New name, new website, separate charges, bringing games into the mix (one wonders why they didn’t do that years ago. They logistics were certainly in place). Almost seems like Netflix is trying to distance themselves from it.
My prediction. Sometime in the next few months or years, either either Netflix or Qwikster drops the red color.
I can understand why they’re doing it. Netflix wants to be streaming only, and by completely disassociating the DVD rental business from the streaming business they can determine if streaming can stand on its own. If it fails, they’ll probably wind up reintegrating.
I still think they shot themselves in the foot, though. They’ve been going about this exactly the wrong way.
I will bet good money that this is the exact reason they’re doing the split. I wonder if many more people than they expected chose to drop streaming and go with the DVD option. I did that because very little of my queue was available on streaming.
I think the emphasis on streaming - and all of those game console/mobile device platforms to stream that are already branded as “Netflix” - are why the streaming service is keeping the old brand name. They can probably try to justify it by saying “well, you don’t just order them via the 'net now; you watch them there too!”
Oh, and I got the price change e-mail originally, but didn’t get this one. Weird.
Stupid name, stupid idea. Will there be two separate queues on 2 different sites now? Sheesh. And if the queues can interact, what’s the point of splitting up the services in the first place?
People will find it much easier to cancel one or the other when there are 2 different bills.
I’m increasibgly not that impressed with the streaming selection and have already dropped back to 1 at a time DVDs. I understand what they are up against, namely the studios trying to squeeze every last cent out of selling the movies before renting, but it is getting ridiculous.
I wonder if Redbox will also rename themselves something silly to keep up, like Reddboxx?
Or QwickBox, ya know, just to dissociate themselves with the poor selection.
Yes, it sounds like two separate queues. His letter says, “A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated. So if you subscribe to both services, and if you need to change your credit card or email address, you would need to do it in two places. Similarly, if you rate or review a movie on Qwikster, it doesn’t show up on Netflix, and vice-versa.”
I figured they were going to do something like this but the new name for the DVD service is dumb. You’d think they’d at least try to play off the Netflix name in some way. I hoped that this announcement would include some good news about enhancing the watch instantly selection, but I guess not.
This has all the hallmarks of getting ready to sell off part of the company (the Qwickster DVD service, obviously).
In a business sense, it allows them to separate books/earnings/expenditures for these companies. Netflix stock can start booming again while Qwickster withers away/gets sold off. The DVD service has a lot of infrastructure (the warehouses must be a lot of overhead to run) that the streaming service doesn’t require. Dumping this overhead will make Netflix a lot more attractive to the stockholders.
These guys are smart. They might suffer in the short term with all of this upheaval, but in the long term I think they’re going to do quite well. Breaking eggs to make an omelet and all that.
Maybe – I don’t doubt that this is ruthlessly forward-looking behavior. But it’s hard to deny that this whole business has Netflix looking terribly tone-deaf. The email they sent out this morning was phrased bizarrely as an apology; but instead their proposed actions will make things even worse for the contingent of their subscribers who complained most bitterly.
Further, I’m not sure they’re handling this well even disregarding the almost certainly poor subscriber response. Their intentions call Apple to mind, a company quite willing to happily cut ties with the past and tell the consumer to deal with it – but Apple’s actually good at this sort of thing (mostly; see the Final Cut debacle for a recent counterexample). Netflix claims that they’ll be changing the name and spinning off the service in a “few weeks”, but that just creates confusion and discourages people from signing up in the meantime. Wouldn’t it be better to wait until they’re ready and make the transition as utterly seamless as possible?
Edit: I also call into question the wisdom of distancing themselves so irrevocably from the DVD service when their streaming options are still pretty cruddy for most people. It doesn’t look good IMO to lose Starz – the source of a great portion of their newer and better releases – and immediately double down on the streaming-only.
I just did the same. I used to turn my discs around overnight; lately they just sit on my coffee table for days and days–obviously I no longer need two at a time. I had to change the expiration date on my credit card this weekend, so as long as I was editing my account, I dropped back to one-at-a-time. When the price change was announced I was planning to drop the streaming option too, but I think I’ll hold onto it for now…maybe not for long.
Okay, so what internet streaming service offers a better selection at a comparable price?
Unfortunately, none that I’m aware of. But that doesn’t necessarily help Netflix if its competitors are its own DVD service, Redbox, and alternative forms of entertainment. A streaming service is only better than no streaming service at all if it has something you want to watch.
Quikster? Seriously? I should sue them for copyright infringement.
Two seperate cues that can not interact.
Yep.
I agree.
First, they pissed off so many customers with the price hike. While I personally don’t like price hikes, I didn’t get too upset about it. The increase is large, but I also thought that Netflix prices were low for the entertainment they were providing. We didn’t drop Netflix as a result of the price increase. We did drop from 2DVD to 1 DVD though.
But now, as if alienating their customer base with a price hike wasn’t enough, they are stupidly rebranding and separating DVD and net-streaming. If the price didn’t get people to drop Netflix, separating the companies certainly might. I’ve been contemplating a switch to Amazon since not only can I get streaming but I also get free 2-day shipping.
I also agree with the stupidness of the name. I expect Apu to be CEO of Qwik-E-Flix-Mart. Bye-bye brand loyalty. I really liked Netflix, but I will have no trouble at all cutting the cord with some monstrously named Quikflix. Silly of me, I know, but that’s how brand loyalty works.
Finally there is the inertia effect. Even if we grew tired of Netflix, or kind-of-sort-of wanted to try Amazon, by sheer laziness we probably would not have done anything. It simply would have been easier to stick with what we have and know. The price hike (and now weird company split) provide motivation to get off my ass and enact changes.
Dumb. dumb. dumb.
So now instead of providing one excuse for people to reassess their netflix use, they are giving us TWO.