Netflix Drops Qwikster DVD Service
The bizzare twists and turns in the Netflix/Qwikster saga continue to mount. As we recently reported, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings announced the parsing of the Netflix DVD and stream services into two separate arenas for which users would have to pay double the price for the privilege. The term Qwikster was coined and the once adoring public turned on the price hikes and separation of services. Wall Street took notice of public dissatisfaction and the exodus from Netflix and, subsequently, Netflix’s stock price was halved from July to September. Yesterday, in an epic act of backtracking, Hastings once again took to the Netflix blog to announce yet another change, the guillotine for the Qwikster service. While some tech pundits opined the abandonment of Qwikster was due to the company’s inability to wrest the @Qwikster Twitter handle, Hastings pointed to public dissatisfaction. While the price hikes remain, Hastings has promised Netflix is “done with price changes” which is a somewhat empty guarantee at this point. Is this the end for Netflix? Should Reed Hastings quit blogging? Stay tuned for the answers to this and more.
