Boo Hiss: No Netflix Watch Now for the Mac

I emailed Netflix via their customer comment form (from within my account) asking whether the Watch Now feature will be available to Mac users. Apparently the question is so disturbing (or embarrassing) to the folks at Netflix that they lose all control of punctuation.

Here's the reply:

"At this time the Watch Now feature is not available to Mac users. We do not have an expected date we will offer this, we hope to someday in the future.Sorry we couldnt be of more assistance in this matter.
Thanks

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

Thanks,
Nicole
Netflix Customer Service"

i am certainly going to complain to netflix. their option would have been to roll their own cross-platform drm. sure, this would cost money and be a fair amount of work. but they're spending $40m? i imagine it would cost a pretty small fraction of that to create their own solution. and if it worked well, why not license it and recoup some of the cost? the decision to go with windows drm was for the sake of expediency, i'm sure, but the lack of interest in innovating is sad. it would have given them the opportunity to lock up this space with a superior service on multiple platforms--even linux at some point if they wanted.

as it is, apple still has their opening to steal all the mac using netflixers by offering a subscription movie service through itunes. i know i'd switch if the pricing was competitive. and this is exactly why i think apple does not want to license fairplay right now. they want to own the content delivery on your mac. netflix already has a big customer base, and a loyal following among mac users, so why give them an advantage in digital delivery when clearly apple is competing in this space?

and if apple does offer a subscription service through itunes, then they can really take a bite out of netflix, since it *would* be cross-platform.

I also sent them a letter voicing my displeasure. Just a reminder to everyone, please keep the letters friendly and professional. We'll never get anywhere with threats and you'll cast a bad light on Mac users.

Please put your passion for this issue to good use and call Netflix! Talk to their customer service reps, and ask them, as a friend of mine did, if they'll reduce their subscription fees for Mac users since we won't get to watch as many movies in a month as Windows users. As I told her, I doubt they've considered that point of view. It would be good for them to hear lots and lots of feedback from unhappy Mac users. Don't threaten to cancel your subscription (unless you really do want to) -- just let them know you're not happy with the decision to leave Mac users high and dry and want a discount for not being able to watch as many movies as other customers paying the same amount. (Full disclosure: I'm a former Netflix employee and avid user of both Netflix and Mac OS X on a Powerbook -- no Parallels for me.)

As your previous posters say Apple is to blame in part for this - sure we don't want DRM but we do want the option to play DRM protected content on the Mac. This is really going to hurt mac users in the short term (i.e until DRM dies or is replaced by something more sinister) unless Apple steps up to the table and opens up Fairplay. That said there could be a big win for Microsoft if they sorted out their media player for Mac before Apple opens up their system. I honestly think Apple has made a mistake here.

Angel,

I completely disagree. If Netflix gave a rats-ass they'd have the smarts to write their own platform independent delivery solution themselves. Not be lazy and default to a Windows only DRM lockdown.

For those of you cancelling your Netflix account, you might want to sell your Mac as well. Apple is as much to blame as Netflix. Don't fool yourself. Apple needs to open up their DRM so we can get access to many of the services that Windows users enjoy.

I suspect those of you who switched to Blockbuster won't be there for long. Their service is horrible even with the free coupons.

Why are people pissed at Netflix? Letters should be going to Apple too. How the hell is Netflix going to provide anything for the Mac if they need DRM (at the MPAA's demand I'm sure)?

I just nasty-gramed them as well. I agree that Apple could do a better job with Fairplay but that doesn't change the fact that we're being excluded from what could be an awesome service.

Now, if Netflix says "we tried to work with Apple to make this work and it's just not happening so far, but we're still trying" that's a different story. A story which would make me MUCH happier.

Sadly, "the short to medium term" makes me think we're looking at years down the road, if at all.

I've been a Netflix customer for over a year and I just moved out of the Windows world never to return. I find it totally insulting that anyone would use Microsoft's DRM technology, most especially someone like Netflix.