{"id":4952,"date":"2011-10-11T10:32:19","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T15:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcitement.com\/?p=4952"},"modified":"2011-10-18T16:41:04","modified_gmt":"2011-10-18T21:41:04","slug":"netflix-to-customers-oops-our-bad-forget-about-qwikster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/techcitement.com\/internet-2\/webapps\/netflix-to-customers-oops-our-bad-forget-about-qwikster\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix to Customers: “Oops, Our Bad. Forget About Qwikster”"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>All’s been quiet on the Netflix front for a week or so, so it shouldn’t have come as a surprise to anyone when the company made an unexpected announcement<\/a> early yesterday morning (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n This means no change: one website, one account, one password\u2026 in other words, no Qwikster<\/strong>.<\/p>\n While the July price change was necessary, we are now done with price changes.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In a separate press statement<\/a>, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said, “Consumers value the simplicity Netflix has always offered and we respect that. There is a difference between moving quickly — which Netflix has done very well for years — and moving too fast, which is what we did in this case.”<\/p>\n I have to admit, as puzzled as I was about customer apoplexy over splitting the service<\/a>, turning back now surprises me even more. Changing their plan this quickly — again — could make the company seem skittish in the eyes of investors, and that’s a risk Netflix can’t afford right now. Shares of the recently embattled have lost 58 percent of their value<\/a> since increasing prices in July.<\/p>\n But in the spirit of Occupy Wall Street<\/a>, forget about that; what does this mean for customers, besides the cosmetic quasi-convenience of having all services under the same logo?<\/p>\n The bad news is that Netflix is standing firm on its price increase<\/a>. Separate charges for DVDs and streaming content are here to stay, whether we like it or not<\/a>. Secondly, the company’s perceived weakness will surely hurt them in negotiations with content providers like Starz<\/a>, just as Netflix needs to appear strong, and that could spell higher rates in the future.<\/p>\n