I have had Netflix for about 8 years and I love it. My brother in law was the manager at Hollywood video and he could not understand why anyone would want to wait for a dvd to come in the mail and pay only 16 bucks a month for unlimited dvds. I mean they could go into the store and pay 5 bucks per movie and get them right away. Well, his store went out of business this summer so I guess I wasn't the only one who thought Netflix was a good idea. I think the Redbox 30 feet from his store entrance may have also played a part in Hollywood Videos demise.

--Previous Message--
: Following the news that Blockbuster was about to declare
: bankruptcy, we had a nice discussion here about all the big
: companies that were supposed to kill Netflix, but didn't. With a
: bit of a spin on that idea, James Ledbetter, over at Slate,
: recently wondered why so many analysts and commentators have
: underestimated Netflix over the years, repeatedly predicting the
: company's demise, such as each time one of the bigger companies
: threatened Netflix. Ledbetter makes an interesting suggestion
: midway through the article:
:
:
: "What is it about Netflix that causes critics to misread it
: so badly? Call it the innovator's paradox: Netflix forged an
: identity by building a simple business - DVD delivery by mail -
: that had never been done before. The very fact that this
: DVD-by-mail idea connected so deeply with consumers led many
: observers to think that was all that Netflix could or would ever
: do. Instead, the DVD delivery service - while still vital to
: Netflix's revenue - looks more like the Trojan horse of a much
: wider strategy designed to change how Americans watch filmed
: entertainment."
:
:
: I think this actually brings up (yet again), a wider point that
: we've been making here repeatedly of late. It's the explanation
: of why it's really just not that easy to simply go and copy an
: innovator. What happens is that you get that cargo cult copying
: of just the superficial elements. Netflix's success wasn't just
: because it shipped people DVDs, but because it actually had a
: much better understanding of how consumers wanted to watch
: movies. The copycats just copied the basic
: "DVD-by-mail" aspect, and while they each tried to add
: their own twist, playing up their own strengths, none were able
: to establish that same sort of connection with customers that
: Netflix was able to.
:
: This doesn't mean, of course, that Netflix will continue to
: dominate. I agree that it still has a number of long-term
: challenges, and needs to continue to outperform the many
: competitors who are willing to keep trying. But, to date,
: Netflix appears to have done a much better job really, deeply
: understanding how to improve the movie rental experience in a
: way that others in the space (and some observers and commenters)
: just didn't grasp.
:
: