4 ms·

Why there’s still no Netflix app for Android - Fragmentation

11 points by jaybol 16y ago

Zak 16y ago
I think it would be more accurate to say that there's no Netflix app because the movie studios want DRM features and Android doesn't provide them directly.
- dotBen 16y ago
  One of the great things about Android is that it is an open system that anyone can hack on (read: tinker with it, not commit illegality). Its possible to create DRM systems within open systems (at the closed application level rather than the open OS level) if NetFlix want to... there is no need to have add some proprietary DRM in Android OS.
  - dangrossman 16y ago
    It'd be too easy to get keys out of the software, so the studios wouldn't go for that. There's a reason DRM is baked into operating systems.
    - dminor 16y ago
      Yes, and thank goodness they've stamped out piracy on those operating systems with integrated DRM.
      - dangrossman 16y ago
        Netflix's concern is to meet the contractual obligations necessary to be able to provide content to their subscribers. Whether the DRM does anything to inhibit piracy is irrelevant to them.
        dminor 16y ago
        Yes, obviously. My comment was directed at "the studios" if that wasn't clear.
revoltingx 16y ago
Wow, this author is technically retarded. The only reason 'fragmentation' exists is because Android supports a lot of devices and form factors than iOS. With the SDK this is not an issue. (Well it shouldn't be, there are some bugs.) Netflix is suffering from this because they have to hack their DRM into each device. Of course, nothing NOT included in the SDK will work in all phones. There is extensive documentation to this end.
bigmac 16y ago
That said, the process of dealing with each Android handset on a case by case basis is a lot more arduous and time consuming than developing the app for platforms like iOS and Windows Phone 7. I have to wonder if that has something to do with why the Angry Birds update is so broken. It works fine on my HTC Incredible, but it is now completely unusable by my wife and one of our friends.
nl 16y ago
That's not fragmentation, that's lack of a particular feature.
- arron61 16y ago
  It amazes me that writers do not understand this simple point. They saw the word "fragment" and jumped to conclusions right away without fully understanding the original article. Android is missing a DRM feature - which Netflix never fully explained and to get around this, they are working with handset makers to add this feature. This is not fragmentation. This is actually pretty cool considering that they are able to get around limitations imposed by the operating system. If Android 2.3 added this feature, this problem or "so-called" fragmentation will disappear.
  - Xuzz 16y ago
    Once, of course, all the devices get upgrades to it. When I'm still seeing releases of Android 1.5, I'm actually unsure if working with the OS for this would actually make it more difficult to support on a variety of platforms.
    - tomjen3 16y ago
      Not really, it is pretty easy to say that your app requires Android such and such version and if you browse the market with a version less than that, it won't show up. On no, thats not fragmentation either - all old apps run on later versions.
      - Xuzz 16y ago
        Sure, but then you have the exact same issue where only a subset of devices can use Netflix.
tomjen3 16y ago
No the problem isn't fragmentation but that Netflix insisted on using features that weren't part of the API -- which would get you banned on the iOS and properly on Win7 as well.
cookiecaper 16y ago
I was under the impression that Netflix DRM relied only on a Silverlight component anyway. Is this not correct? How do they depend on the OS to provide this functionality? Does the Wii also provide such functionality? Netflix is on a lot of devices these days so it's hard to swallow the idea that lack of OS-level DRM is keeping it off. In fact, if I remember correctly, Netflix is available on TiVO and Boxee, both of which are Linux platforms, and Linux definitely doesn't have a baked-in DRM facility and I would be highly skeptical that there is a private implementation of OS-level DRM on both Boxee and TiVO that hasn't hit the masses. So it's almost definitely just an excuse.

11 points by jaybol 16y ago

Zak 16y ago

I think it would be more accurate to say that there's no Netflix app because the movie studios want DRM features and Android doesn't provide them directly.

dotBen 16y ago
One of the great things about Android is that it is an open system that anyone can hack on (read: tinker with it, not commit illegality). Its possible to create DRM systems within open systems (at the closed application level rather than the open OS level) if NetFlix want to... there is no need to have add some proprietary DRM in Android OS.
- dangrossman 16y ago
  It'd be too easy to get keys out of the software, so the studios wouldn't go for that. There's a reason DRM is baked into operating systems.
  - dminor 16y ago
    Yes, and thank goodness they've stamped out piracy on those operating systems with integrated DRM.
    - dangrossman 16y ago
      Netflix's concern is to meet the contractual obligations necessary to be able to provide content to their subscribers. Whether the DRM does anything to inhibit piracy is irrelevant to them.
      - dminor 16y ago
        Yes, obviously. My comment was directed at "the studios" if that wasn't clear.

revoltingx 16y ago

Wow, this author is technically retarded. The only reason 'fragmentation' exists is because Android supports a lot of devices and form factors than iOS. With the SDK this is not an issue. (Well it shouldn't be, there are some bugs.) Netflix is suffering from this because they have to hack their DRM into each device. Of course, nothing NOT included in the SDK will work in all phones. There is extensive documentation to this end.

bigmac 16y ago

That said, the process of dealing with each Android handset on a case by case basis is a lot more arduous and time consuming than developing the app for platforms like iOS and Windows Phone 7. I have to wonder if that has something to do with why the Angry Birds update is so broken. It works fine on my HTC Incredible, but it is now completely unusable by my wife and one of our friends.

nl 16y ago

That's not fragmentation, that's lack of a particular feature.

arron61 16y ago
It amazes me that writers do not understand this simple point. They saw the word "fragment" and jumped to conclusions right away without fully understanding the original article. Android is missing a DRM feature - which Netflix never fully explained and to get around this, they are working with handset makers to add this feature. This is not fragmentation. This is actually pretty cool considering that they are able to get around limitations imposed by the operating system. If Android 2.3 added this feature, this problem or "so-called" fragmentation will disappear.
- Xuzz 16y ago
  Once, of course, all the devices get upgrades to it. When I'm still seeing releases of Android 1.5, I'm actually unsure if working with the OS for this would actually make it more difficult to support on a variety of platforms.
  - tomjen3 16y ago
    Not really, it is pretty easy to say that your app requires Android such and such version and if you browse the market with a version less than that, it won't show up. On no, thats not fragmentation either - all old apps run on later versions.
    - Xuzz 16y ago
      Sure, but then you have the exact same issue where only a subset of devices can use Netflix.

tomjen3 16y ago

No the problem isn't fragmentation but that Netflix insisted on using features that weren't part of the API -- which would get you banned on the iOS and properly on Win7 as well.

cookiecaper 16y ago

I was under the impression that Netflix DRM relied only on a Silverlight component anyway. Is this not correct? How do they depend on the OS to provide this functionality? Does the Wii also provide such functionality? Netflix is on a lot of devices these days so it's hard to swallow the idea that lack of OS-level DRM is keeping it off. In fact, if I remember correctly, Netflix is available on TiVO and Boxee, both of which are Linux platforms, and Linux definitely doesn't have a baked-in DRM facility and I would be highly skeptical that there is a private implementation of OS-level DRM on both Boxee and TiVO that hasn't hit the masses. So it's almost definitely just an excuse.