Guys around table making decisions are too old
Tuesday, December 9, 2008 16:43So today, Sony comes right out and says they don’t plan to offer x-box styled Netflix type streaming from the PlayStation3. Here’s a quote:
We’ve concentrated most of our efforts on our download service, both rentals and downloads of movies and TV shows. Our efforts will continue to be there, because our customers want to own the content…[In regards to the Netflix streaming on NXE,] there are certainly some positives for the Xbox 360. But there’s also some confusion. It goes further into the argument of “owning the content” [versus renting or accessing it]. [thanks gizmodo for the heads up]
I remember a meeting I was in of an eBusiness steering team at a 110+ year old publishing company where one of the oldest guys at the table, and the Executive Vice President no less, leaned forward and said “I think the guys around the tables making decisions are too old” in response to a denial of some new and innovative delivery method for content.
Personally, I think xbox and really Netflix has proven to be geniuses. I made the decision as soon as I saw the notice that Netflix streaming was coming to my xbox that I was not going to make the purchase of the PS3 or Blu Ray player I was contemplating because I believe the Blu Ray player will have a short, 8-track-ish life span as realtime streaming and download of content will take over. I know my kids (22 and 24) could care less about “owning” something like a movie on DVD. They’d assume to use Redbox which is way cheaper and ultimately to download through their xbox or TIVO.
Bravo xbox & Netflix… Boo Sony!
Eric Murrell says:
December 10th, 2008 at 7:45 am
Just for clarity’s sake, I believe Sony’s resistance to netflix integration has less to do with their stubbornness and more to do with Microsoft’s arrangement for exclusivity. To my knowledge, Microsoft paid some cash to be the only console with netflix integration. Maybe after that 6mo-1yr window is up, Sony will be able to hop on board. (On a side note, Sony is getting clobbered in the console war.)
As for downloads trumping Blu-Ray, that will be an interesting battle. If recent history has taught us anything (mp3 vs sacd), the much lower quality download will win over the physical media every time. The only roadblock i see here is the ease of using the media in different places throughout the house. I think the thing holding back the downloads right now is the inability to burn to a disc and loan out. DRM sucks.
With that said, those super-low-compression pure 1080p Blu-Ray discs sure look hot on an 120Hz set…