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Netflix is already available on several mobile platforms including Apple's iOS and even the newly launched Windows Phone 7, but it isn't yet available on Android, the fastest growing mobile OS in the last few month. And the reason? DRM, of course!
Netflix hasn't been able to produce an app for Android because there is no common security framework for the OS, and so the alternative is to work with each individual phone manufacturer and produce something different for each, which would be an expensive and time consuming exercise.
This effect, called fragmentation, is a serious problem for the Android platform, as there are just too many different combinations of hardware and software for developers to consider, and some key common frameworks, such as the security framework, are missing.
It may be easy to blame Netflix for being so attached to DRM, but this requirement is actually forced upon them by major studios.
So once again, DRM stands in the way of innovation.
More:
Netflix hasn't been able to produce an app for Android because there is no common security framework for the OS, and so the alternative is to work with each individual phone manufacturer and produce something different for each, which would be an expensive and time consuming exercise.
This effect, called fragmentation, is a serious problem for the Android platform, as there are just too many different combinations of hardware and software for developers to consider, and some key common frameworks, such as the security framework, are missing.
It may be easy to blame Netflix for being so attached to DRM, but this requirement is actually forced upon them by major studios.
So once again, DRM stands in the way of innovation.
More:
