One Service to Rule Them All: Netflix Ditches Qwikster
Well, that didn’t take long. Netflix has already decided to kill off it’s new spin-off, Qwikster. The goal had been to spin the DVD rental business off into a separate company, but the immediate reaction was unsurprisingly hostile. No one questioned that Netflix would eventually have little use for the DVD rental part of their business, but no one was buying Netflix CEO Reed Hasting’s assertion that breaking the service off into a new company, with a separate website, queue, and billing, was going to be more convenient for the consumer.
Customers complained about the confusing changes and Hastings apparently received the message. Hasting announced in a new blog post titled “DVDs will be staying at netflix.com” that Qwikster will now simply go away. “It is clear that for many of our members two websites would make things more difficult, so we are going to keep Netflix as one place to go for streaming and DVDs,” Hastings wrote. “This means no change: one website, one account, one password… in other words, no Qwikster.”
They had to do
They had to do something…and it may be too late. The massive cost increase and then splitting the services has put a big dent in their business. Just a little while back, their stock price was nearing $300…and today it is $111.
I love Netflix, but their
I love Netflix, but their handling of these mini-crisis’ shows a lack of planning. Won’t change my subscription. I hope for their sake they learn from their mistakes.
If I were stock holder in
If I were stock holder in Netflix, I’d be calling for the CEO to step down after these latest events. As a Netflix subscriber, I’m a still disheartened by all of this, the honeymoon period is over.
For my viewing Netflix still
For my viewing Netflix still offers the best deal when compared to their competitors. I put a premium on being commercial free. Are their other major competitors offering the same? If so, i would be interested in checking them out.