In one of the fastest corporate about faces in history, Netflix has just announced that they will not make customers subscribe to two separate services – streaming and DVD – and they are dumping Qwikster. While many will breath a financial sigh of relief, this also leads many to wonder: “Does Netflix have any idea what the fnck it’s doing?”
Just two and a half weeks ago, Netflix announced that it was splitting its services into two separate services: Netflix Instant Streaming, and Netflix DVD, the latter being known henceforth as ‘Qwikster’, at the separate website Qwikster.com.
There was a lot of chatter about this in the Intersphere, most of it negative, with many wondering just what Netflix CEO Reed Hastings was smoking.
Whatever it was, he has apparently kicked the habit – or ramped it up, we’re not sure which – as this morning Netflix announced that they were in fact not going to split the services, and not going to develop Qwister, but that the attendant rate-hike will remain.
Was this the world’s oddest backwards bait-and-switch, or did the Netflix execs simply sleep through all of their business classes?
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Here’s today’s announcement:
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.This means no change: one website, one account, one password…in other words, no Qwikster.
While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.
We’re constantly improving our streaming selection. We’ve recently added hundreds of movies from Paramount, Sony, Universal, Fox, Warner Bros., Lionsgate, MGM and Miramax. Plus, in the last couple of weeks alone, we’ve added over 3,500 TV episodes from ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, USA, E!, Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, ABC Family, Discovery Channel, TLC, SyFy, A&E, History, and PBS.
We value you as a member, and we are committed to making Netflix the best place to get your movies & TV shows.
Respectfully,
The Netflix Team
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Well, as far as what the ‘frick’ they are doing, it sounds like Classic Coke/New Coke all over! Why mess with a good thing when its working. Both companies had best selling products and they had to try for bigger bucks.