Netflix App Now Supports iPhone and iPod Touch
As promised, Netflix has finally updated their App Store app [iTunes Link] to support the iPhone and iPod Touch in addition to the iPad. … Netflix originally launched the app for the iPad-only and later revealed that the App would come for all iOS devices.
Context & Ripple Effects
Netflix launched its streaming app as an iPad exclusive at Apple's tablet debut in April 2010, where it became one of the device's essential early apps, and a company blog post had already signaled an iPhone version was coming (all but promised it back in April). Fulfilling that pledge puts Watch Instantly in the pocket rather than just on the couch.
The timing matters because Netflix is mid-transformation: it told investors in May that it expects DVD-by-mail to peak in 2013 with streaming driving growth, signed the EPIX movie-streaming deal earlier this month, and confirmed in August that an Android app and Android developer hires are underway. The iPhone update is the piece that makes those content and platform bets reach the largest installed base.
First-order effects
- Millions of iPhone and iPod Touch owners who subscribe to Netflix can stream Watch Instantly over 3G or Wi-Fi without buying an iPad, immediately expanding Netflix's addressable screens.
- Netflix's existing subscribers gain value at no price change — the app leverages the same unlimited plan rather than creating a new product tier.
Second-order effects
- With EPIX's pay-TV movie catalog arriving on Watch Instantly this month, every additional supported device raises the per-subscriber value of that licensing spend and pressures pay-TV rivals whose libraries stay tethered to the set-top box.
- The confirmed Android app effort becomes more urgent: Apple's platforms alone no longer define Netflix's mobile footprint, so carriers and handset makers outside Apple's ecosystem are the next distribution battleground.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — content licenses like EPIX plus native apps on every major platform — Netflix's competitive position shifts from a DVD logistics business toward being a default video service on any screen, accelerating the decline of disc-based rental economics it itself projects peaking in 2013.
- Device manufacturers gain leverage in the opposite direction: becoming (or failing to become) a Netflix-supported platform starts functioning as a selling point for phones and tablets, making streaming-app availability a factor in hardware competition.
The trend: Netflix is executing a deliberate pivot from DVD-by-mail to subscription streaming on every consumer screen, using mobile apps and fresh licensing deals as the delivery mechanism.