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I'm still amazed at how fast these companies can add a new distribution model that surpasses the one they built their businesses on. Amazon: Kindle release: N

I'm still amazed at how fast these companies can add a new distribution model that surpasses the one they built their businesses on. Amazon: Kindle release: November 19, 2007 Date surpassed: ~May 2011 --- Netflix: Streaming started: Fall/Winter 2008? Date surpassed: ~November 2010

simonsarris 15y ago
What amazes me more is that Netflix began in 1997 and had the foresight to name themselves Netflix and not Mail-flix, yet they didn't begin streaming until 11 years later. I wonder how long they were working on streaming before it was released. A lot of planning must have gone into something that beat the company's traditional model in just two years.
- anamax 15y ago
  I talked to NetFlix about streaming in 2004 and I got the impression that they'd been working on it for some time. (Thinking about streaming is no big deal - there were pre-99 startups working on streaming and Hastings surely knew about them.)
  - kenjackson 15y ago
    To be clear... there were pre-99 startups that DID streaming. I was invested in one. But B-movies from the 50s apparently have a smaller market than one might think -- and you probably already think it has a really small market.
    - officemonkey 15y ago
      Also, remember what video streaming was like in 99 (postage stamp-sized window, muddy picture, buffering every three seconds). The network has come a long way in 12 years.
- solutionyogi 15y ago
  Personally, I don't think the 'Net' in NetFlix is about streaming. It's about the InterNET. Yes, the delivery mechanism was based on physical mail, but everything else was done on Internet [Browsing/Selection/Recommendations]. This is in contrast to B&M stores like Blockbuster. [I don't want to take anything away from Netflix, I have completely stopped using DVDs since they started streaming movies. They completely rule the online streaming market.]

simonsarris 15y ago

What amazes me more is that Netflix began in 1997 and had the foresight to name themselves Netflix and not Mail-flix, yet they didn't begin streaming until 11 years later. I wonder how long they were working on streaming before it was released. A lot of planning must have gone into something that beat the company's traditional model in just two years.

anamax 15y ago
I talked to NetFlix about streaming in 2004 and I got the impression that they'd been working on it for some time. (Thinking about streaming is no big deal - there were pre-99 startups working on streaming and Hastings surely knew about them.)
- kenjackson 15y ago
  To be clear... there were pre-99 startups that DID streaming. I was invested in one. But B-movies from the 50s apparently have a smaller market than one might think -- and you probably already think it has a really small market.
  - officemonkey 15y ago
    Also, remember what video streaming was like in 99 (postage stamp-sized window, muddy picture, buffering every three seconds). The network has come a long way in 12 years.
solutionyogi 15y ago
Personally, I don't think the 'Net' in NetFlix is about streaming. It's about the InterNET. Yes, the delivery mechanism was based on physical mail, but everything else was done on Internet [Browsing/Selection/Recommendations]. This is in contrast to B&M stores like Blockbuster. [I don't want to take anything away from Netflix, I have completely stopped using DVDs since they started streaming movies. They completely rule the online streaming market.]