Netflix and the iPhone: A Potential Marriage?


According to Wikipedia, technological singularity refers to "the hypothesis that technological progress will become extremely fast, and so make the future unpredictable and qualitatively different from today."

That concept of accelerating returns through the rapid progression of technology seems more and more visible these days, and one reason is simple: a potential marriage between the iPhone and Netflix may just be in the works.

If you're not familiar with Netflix, let's bring you up to speed: for just a few dollars a month, Netflix subscribers are able to receive movie rentals through the mail, watching their DVDs and then returning them through the mail. It's a concept that has made Blockbuster seem obsolete, and thanks to the Internet, it also means that many Netflix users can simply watch movies on demand online, eliminating the use even to use DVDs in some cases.

If you don't know what this kind of technology could mean for the iPhone, you've come to the right place. And you need to work on your critical thinking skills. Let's investigate.

Movies in Your Pocket

According to Digital Media Wire, Netflix is polling its subscribers to gauge their interest in a Netflix App that could mean bringing streaming movies to the iPhone.

"Big deal," you might snidely retort, "I watch movies on my iPhone all the time. Ever hear of Hulu? Or YouTube?"

The leap forward that Netflix brings to the table is allowing your subscription to pay for a commercial-free, quick, on-demand service that rivals inserting a DVD directly into your iPhone. In other words, it's easier, faster, and more convenient, which means that the definition of "portable movie player" might change forever.

Just ten short years ago, the idea of carrying your very own Blockbuster in your pocket might have seemed like a stretch of the imagination, the work of science fiction. But the capacity of the Internet and smart phone hardware to interact is quickly changing our lives.

Improvements Needed?

Of course, not everything can happen instantaneously - we don't live in the Twilight Zone just yet. There's still work to be done on the Netflix-on-the-iPhone technology, including addressing a few factors:

  • The Netflix library of DVDs, while vast at some 17,000 titles, is still somewhat limited in the big scheme of things. Though you can imagine this number has nowhere to go but up, it's still going to take time to make sure the infrastructure meets the demand. There are real problems, with this, however: some studios are reluctant to release their content to a cheap service like Netflix when cable companies pay much more.
  • The rise of Netflix actually suggests a new way of watching television and films that could challenge the traditional broadcast and film industries. There's no need to sit down and watch an old "Seinfeld" rerun if you can have any episode you like on your iPhone at any given time.


The implications of Netflix's services for streaming content and the possibility that it could be linked up with a device as useful as the iPhone means that it will be very interesting to watch what happens in the media world in the future. Just a few decades ago, many people could only watch a few "big" networks - today, satellite television and on-demand movie watching have made it much easier to choose from a variety of options from the comfort of our own home. Movies are still a big business in theaters, thanks to exclusivity in content and a premier sound/sight experience. Perhaps there's still a role for traditional media even in the information age.