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I have worked as a film publicist in NYC for 30 years.  This blog is the story of my life, as well as random thoughts on various topics.

My Life Was a Blog
Reid Rosefelt

Now I Know Why Reed Hastings Calls His New Company Qwikster

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Now The Wrap explains in very simple terms why Reed Hastings HAD to do what he did. It was that or go out of business.  I understand completely and have no complaint.  I’d rather have a Netflix that is more difficult to use than no Netflix.

But why do I have to get this from The Wrap??????    Why couldn’t Reed Hastings figure out a way to spin this so that his customers wouldn’t run riot?.

And  “Qwikster”?   Is he f*cking nuts?  Netflix has alway been a future-oriented company, which is why it was called Netflix when it was sending out all it’s content by mail.   He knew that the internet was where things were going, so he chose a company name accordingly.

Now he picks a name that sounds like technology companies that went under, like Friendster and Napster.

Oh… now I get it.   Hastings is still looking ahead.   Before Qwikster even opens, he’s  put in the order for the casket.

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To Save Netflix We Must Shut it Down

Tuesday, September 20, 2011
the-brads-netflix

                                                                                                                                          http://bradcolbow.com

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings’ hasty announcement to divide Netflix into companies will go down in the history books as one of the most colossal marketing blunders by an extremely successful company. It is Netflix’s New Coke.

For me, a reasonably informed and fair person would understand that the previous price hike was not his fault. The studios felt they weren’t making enough money off of Netflix, so they raised their rates enormously.  Netflix could either go under, or raise its prices. Users could either accept that or quit, if it was too expensive for their budgets. Hastings was club-footed in explaining this, but, in my opinion, he didn’t do anything wrong.  I bit the bullet and paid more.  If you really use it, Netflix is still an awesome deal.  Think about the price of one movie ticket.

Now he suddenly comes out with a plan that has numerous disadvantages for his customers and doesn’t have a single advantage.

To get our old Netflix back, the answer is simple. The day that Qwikflix, I mean Qwikster,  comes out, we need hundreds of thousands of people to cancel one or both of the Netflix services. It won’t be a sacrifice, as a few days later, the old Netflix we love will be back.

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