Netflix's Mobile Invasion Continues: Android, You're Next
Netflix is officially on a mobile rampage. First it was that amazing-looking Microsoft Windows Phone 7 app—the first we'd seen of its kind. Then it debuted alongside Apple's iPad, possibly snagging the title of most essential app …
Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix's mobile rollout has been building for a month: first came the prototype built for Microsoft's then-unreleased Windows Phone 7 Series on March 15, then an app ready for Apple's iPad at its April 2010 launch, where early reaction framed it as one of the tablet's most essential titles. A company blog post on April 3 all but promised an iPhone version, so this story is less a single announcement than a platform-by-platform campaign.
The Fast Company piece frames Android as the next stop, though the relationships data marks that signal as unconfirmed rather than announced. The breadth of pickup — PC World carried the same story the same day — shows how much weight observers put on Netflix showing up natively on each new screen.
First-order effects
- Microsoft gains a marquee streaming app for Windows Phone 7 before the OS even ships, giving it launch-day credibility against Apple and Google.
- iPad buyers get subscription streaming on day one, making the tablet a living-room device out of the box and validating Apple's app-led launch strategy.
Second-order effects
- Handset makers and carriers on each new platform now have an argument for treating a native Netflix client as a launch requirement, since its absence reads as a gap against rival devices.
- Rival disc-rental and download services face pressure to match Netflix's multi-device footprint or concede the portable-screen market entirely.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — one streaming service shipping near-simultaneously across phone, tablet, and unreleased platforms — subscription video becomes device-agnostic by default, decoupling viewing from any single hardware vendor's ecosystem.
The trend: Streaming services are racing to be native on every major mobile platform at launch, turning per-device apps into the new battleground for subscription video distribution.