Implications of the 3.1 update

[Dubar]

Two things come to mind in light of the 3.1 update for the Xoom. First, to the notion that the Xoom is the "Nexus" of the tablet world, this is good news. We got the latest honeycomb update, direct from google, before anyone else. Thats what we were all hoping for, right? The optimist in me wants to think that this will be par for the course, at least for a while. HC is barely even a newborn right now, and with all the tablets coming out, you've gotta think there are more than a few timely updates down the road for us Xoom users.

Now for the bad news: Google Video. On the surface, it seems like a cool idea, and if it ever works for the wifi xoom I'll know a bit more about it. But why would Google create and feature a pay-to-play video app if an Android Netflix app was in development? They couldnt possibly compete with Netflix for quality, variety, or price (I can rent two movies for one day each for the price of a month of unlimited netflix). The answer, then, must be that they dont expect to compete. Netflix isnt coming any time soon, if ever, and Google has supplied us with a much more expensive replacement.

Now that we're seeing our first major update, what does the future look like to you?

 

[csseale]

Ipad is the same with iTunes and netflix....not an issue HC now has drm so will most certainly have netflix asap.

 

[Bauxite]

Now for the bad news: Google Video. On the surface, it seems like a cool idea, and if it ever works for the wifi xoom I'll know a bit more about it. But why would Google create and feature a pay-to-play video app if an Android Netflix app was in development? They couldnt possibly compete with Netflix for quality, variety, or price (I can rent two movies for one day each for the price of a month of unlimited netflix). The answer, then, must be that they dont expect to compete. Netflix isnt coming any time soon, if ever, and Google has supplied us with a much more expensive replacement.

You're reading WAYYY too much into this. Google just proved they can get content providers to agree and stream movies on Android with DRM. The products are completely different. Subscription and pay-per-rent services can co-exist. I can't watch Netflix on a plane last I checked.

 

[gbenj]

You're reading WAYYY too much into this. Google just proved they can get content providers to agree and stream movies on Android with DRM. The products are completely different. Subscription and pay-per-rent services can co-exist. I can't watch Netflix on a plane last I checked.

Good point about offline.

Also, new releases, or movies up to the demand of Harry Potter, Inception and The Kings Speech would take a month to get to Netflix DVD rentals and probably years till they made their way to on demand streaming.

Movies like this would presumably be available on or near release date for rental in the market. (Although at a slightly higher price than I'd like to pay)