BestBuy is considering launching a digital movie service that will roll out this summer, in cooperation with CinemaNow, the company that built a similar system for Blockbuster. The idea: the retailer could sell its Insignia Blu-ray players with the streaming feature built-in, splitting the subscription cost with CinemaNow and putting a little revenue cushion in between itself and the flagging market for consumer electronics.
Meanwhile, BestBuy's would-be movie competitor, Netflix, is refining its already-successful model by adding more acute movie recommendations for its users. Instead of lumping films into general genres like "action" or "comedy," Netflix announced yesterday that it will parse films within those categories into smaller, more deliberate groupings. That, in turn, should make recommendations fewer and more interesting.
The changes have been years in the making, but couldn't come at a more auspicious time for Netflix. As Apple, Amazon and Blockbuster bolster their competing services, Netflix will have to do everything in its power to keep the behemoths at bay, making the bar of entry even higher for BestBuy.
Related: Dying Hard With a Vengeance: Blockbuster May Go Under
Related: Blockbuster Goes Online With TiVo, Apple to Save Its Business
Related: Netflix, the Cable Killer?
Related Stories: | Topics:Innovation, Technology, Design, bestbuy, netflix, apple, Amazon, streaming, video, Movie, cinemanow, Consumer Products, Enterprise, innovative products, it, products, Netflix Inc., Blockbuster Inc., Best Buy Co. Inc., CinemaNow Inc., Apple Inc. |
Recent Comments | 3 Total
April 17, 2009 at 3:48pm by Shevonne Polastre
I doubt they can be competition for Netflix. If Blockbuster couldn't do it, doubt BestBuy can
April 18, 2009 at 11:07am by Chris Dannen
BestBuy has done pretty well with their metroPCS cell phone arm, though--maybe they can put the same energy into rolling out a good movie service.