Thank Goodness for ITunes

I wasn't planning on using NetFlix anyhow ....especially after the recent announcement from Apple introducing their new "Movie Rental" feature. Its a good thing ITunes came along ....because NetFlix can't make Mac users happy.

Here is the article form Mashable

Netflix, which recently modified its service in order to offer unlimited streaming movie rentals to its customers, has one major flaw in its efforts to compete with the new Apple movie rental offering–Netflix’s streaming service doesn’t work on Macs. This is due to the fact that Netflix uses a Microsoft-based DRM service that only works with Windows.

However, “Netflix said it hopes to support Web-based streaming for Mac owners in 2008,” according to Alley Insider. Looking over the other details that Alley Insider reporter Dan Frommer mentioned from the Q4 earnings call last night, it appears that Netflix doesn’t really have high expectations of its streaming service.

Is Netflix hoping that rolling out its support for Macs will help with user adoption? Given the set top box that Netflix is also rolling out, it would seem that Netflix is putting all the options out there, even though these most recent moves probably won’t take off in the near future. So who is Netflix’s true competition: Blockbuster or Apple? I’d say Apple. With a stronghold on portable devices and easy access to movie and audio content, Apple has a very intimate relationship with consumers.

So in becoming more compatible with Apple devices, perhaps Netflix is going the friendly route. As Apple’s most recent deal with film studios for movie rentals led to a surprising catch that resulted in new releases not becoming available until 30 days after DVDs are put out on shelves, perhaps this is Netflix’s opportunity to push whatever initiatives will help it maintain its own grip on the movie rental business.