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Netflix’s Chances of a Nintendo Deal Really Were “Excellent”

Peter Kafka in Media on January 13, 2010 at 3:00 am PT

Netflix already streams its flicks to the Xbox and the Playstation. So a Nintendo deal would “work out over time,” CEO Reed Hastings predicted last week. That was fast.

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings: We’ll Be Shipping DVDs Until 2030

John Paczkowski and Drake Martinet in News on January 8, 2010 at 4:34 pm PT

The digital video revolution may be hastening the DVD toward its end, but there’s quite a bit of life left in the old format yet. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said as much today when he remarked that the company’s DVD-by-mail business will likely continue until 2030. During a wide-ranging on-stage interview with All Things Digital’s Peter Kafka, Hastings discussed the deal Netflix cut with Warner Bros. earlier this week that will delay rentals of the studio’s films until 28 days after their DVD release and Comcast’s proposal to acquire a controlling stake in NBC Universal, a move that could impact Netflix’s Watch Instantly streaming service.

iPhone Headed to Verizon in 2010…or 2012

John Paczkowski in News on December 9, 2009 at 2:35 pm PT

So, the iPhone’s next big feature? Verizon. This according to Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who says there’s a 70 percent chance that the carrier will add Apple’s super-smartphone to its lineup by the middle of 2010.

Google Makes AOL’s Turnaround Task Even Harder

Peter Kafka in Media on November 13, 2009 at 6:43 am PT

Little by little, AOL is offering investors more and more details about what the company will look like after it spins off from Time Warner. But the more AOL discloses, the less attractive the company looks. The newest problem: AOL’s steady flow of Google money is going away.

Exclusive Xbox 360-Netflix Partnership Not So Exclusive Anymore

John Paczkowski in News on October 26, 2009 at 6:22 am PT

So much for Xbox 360’s game console exclusivity on Netflix streaming. This morning, the DVD-by-mail pioneer said that beginning sometime next month, owners of Sony’s PlayStation 3 game consoles will be able to stream movies and TV shows from Netflix.

Analyst Favors iPhone Carrier Polyamory

John Paczkowski in News on October 20, 2009 at 4:30 am PT

Though Verizon’s new Droid ad campaign might seem to preclude one, Apple would be wise to ink an iPhone distribution deal with the carrier–if not to hasten iPhone adoption, then to slow rivals that would supplant it. That’s the argument put forth by Piper Jaffray analyst Chris Larsen in a research note to investors Monday.

Morgan Stanley: iPhone Market Share Would Double Without Exclusivity

John Paczkowski in News on October 2, 2009 at 7:34 am PT

Add Morgan Stanley’s Kathryn Huberty to the list of analysts calling for Apple to broaden the iPhone’s distribution by ending carrier exclusivity deals. In a research note issued this morning, Huberty–noting that the iPhone’s market share grew 136 percent in France when Apple switched to multicarrier agreements there–said iPhone sales could more than double if the company took a similar tack in other countries.

All the Music You Can Eat, on Your iPhone? Wall Street Snoozes.

Peter Kafka in Media on September 11, 2009 at 7:45 am PT

The announcement from RealNetworks that Apple had approved its iPhone app–all you can eat music, to go, for $15 a month–gave the company’s stock a brief jolt yesterday. That’s over now: Wall Street seems to have thought about it and concluded that people won’t pay a monthly fee for music, even on an iPhone.