Zero2Cool
13 years ago
Shut up and increase the streaming library!!

Dear Kevin,

I messed up. I owe you an explanation.

It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.

For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn't make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.

So here is what we are doing and why.

Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.

I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.

So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.

It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.

Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.

There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.

For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.

I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.

Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.

Respectfully yours,

-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix


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Nonstopdrivel
13 years ago
I wonder how long it will be before Quickstar moves in with a trademark-infringement suit. heh
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wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member
13 years ago
thanks for the update.
He sure has a patronizing attitude doesn't he?
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wpr
  • wpr
  • Preferred Member
13 years ago
This letter also explains a comment I heard from a postal employee. he said that netflix was the current single larger user of the mail today. And that they were wanting to get out of the dvd/mail delivery system all together.

They did so by changing their name. Rumors are not always accurate.
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Formo
13 years ago
Before I go off-topic...

Nice. I didn't have a problem with their first announcement anyway, but it's still nice that they are being proactive with both streaming and DVD delivery. With this division, hopefully this means they end up with a better integrated, higher quality, and more selection with the Netflix.com streaming option.

I wonder how long it will be before Quickstar moves in with a trademark-infringement suit. heh

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 



Quixtar is now officially Amway. They both have been owned by the same company, Alticor, but Amway was the global catalog marketing company many people remember and Quixtar was the North America-based online 'version' of Amway.

Unless you are talking about a completely different Quickstar. 🙂
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Thanks to TheViking88 for the sig!!
Nonstopdrivel
13 years ago
Fuck, I misspelled Quixtar. Thanks for pointing it out. They still seem to hold the trademark, though, since it seems inextricably intertwined with Amway on websites.
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Formo
13 years ago

Fuck, I misspelled Quixtar. Thanks for pointing it out. They still seem to hold the trademark, though, since it seems inextricably intertwined with Amway on websites.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 



Yeah, don't know the legality of their ownership of the name/trademark of Quixtar, so I guess technically they COULD go into legal battles with Quikster if they still hold the name/trademark. Not sure how likely it is to happen, though.
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Thanks to TheViking88 for the sig!!
Zero2Cool
13 years ago
The names are spelled differently, correct? I don't think they can argue about it legally.
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Nonstopdrivel
13 years ago
There have been plenty of cases in which companies were taken to court for trademark infringement for using similar but not identical trademarks. There is a reason why the University of Georgia licenses their "G" from the Packers -- to avoid just such a possibility. The suing company doesn't have to prove that the trademarks are identical, only that they are similar enough (visually, sonically, etc.) that customers could reasonably be expected to confuse them. I am sure Wade could explain this in better detail than I can.
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Zero2Cool
13 years ago

There have been plenty of cases in which companies were taken to court for trademark infringement for using similar but not identical trademarks. There is a reason why the University of Georgia licenses their "G" from the Packers -- to avoid just such a possibility. The suing company doesn't have to prove that the trademarks are identical, only that they are similar enough (visually, sonically, etc.) that customers could reasonably be expected to confuse them. I am sure Wade could explain this in better detail than I can.

Originally Posted by: Nonstopdrivel 



Hey, I can pretend to know it all too! But I won't use Wiki as my resource. 😳

I've been taken to court several times and that doesn't mean I was guilty, nor should it. Same applies to "plenty of cases" where companies have been "taken to court" over trademark infringement. So what if there were many companies taken to court, look at Apple, they've been making courts busy for years. Doesn't mean they have a legit case or are going to win them all. It's a scare tactic, which, I think is working.

Even in your example, it goes more to my point. It was the logo design that was being infringed on potentially, not the name. Georgia wanted to use a similar logo design with different colors, thus, they requested legal permission to do so. They did not want to be the Green Bay Bulldogs with a Red Packers G logo, lol.

Quixtar and Qwikster. The organization names are different, what about the logo design? As of now, Quixtar would not win a case according to the letter of the trademark infringement law.


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Best I could find... I don't think there's gonna be a case over this. Then again, this countries court system has allowed a burglar to sue the victim successfully, so who know?? lol
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Martha Careful (30-Mar) : Is men braiding their hair a new style thing? Watching the NCAA men's tournament many players have done
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beast (29-Mar) : Lol, I was thinking username would be better, as then I wouldn't have to keep an email up to date lol 😂
beast (29-Mar) : Zero2Cool (25-Mar) : I was thinking email because I think it'll make folks keep it up todate lol
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earthquake (27-Mar) : Which seemed strange to my 9 year old self, that you could be a fan for a team other than the one you play for
earthquake (27-Mar) : Nothing eventful happened, other than it being clear that he was a bengals fan
earthquake (27-Mar) : And we went and hung out with him one afternoon, I must have been 9 or so
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Mucky Tundra (27-Mar) : He is a former Packer. Drafted out of Northern Illinois. Didn't do much in GB.
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Zero2Cool (25-Mar) : I was thinking email because I think it'll make folks keep it up todate lol
wpr (25-Mar) : I don't think there is a significant difference. I use a user name for many. Others email.
Martha Careful (25-Mar) : email
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