Netflix, the popular DVD-rental company, is continuing its aggressive exploration of direct-content delivery to various devices. On Friday, the company announced it has opened up its Watch Instantly software for public beta testing on both Windows and Mac computers. Until now, the company’s streaming software operated only on Windows computers.
In a posting from Netflix blogger Brent, the company said it’s past the first stage of its beta testing for the player software, and is inviting everyone to join in. However, Netflix warned that there still might be some glitches.
“We are logging all errors, but if you run into problems, you can help out by posting details here in the blog comments,” Brent wrote. “Not all movies are available to watch with Silverlight. You may notice errors or lower-than-normal quality when watching certain titles. Our new player works on PCs and Intel-based Macs. Windows users should be aware that if you opt in, you will need to use Silverlight on all the machines you use to watch instantly.”
The new software will give Mac users access to Netflix’s library of approximately 12,000 streaming videos; by contrast, DVD renters can select from among 100,000 titles.
Important Market
Although the percentage of Mac users is small compared to Windows users, it’s still an important market for Netflix, said Michael Gartenberg, vice president of mobile strategy at Jupitermedia.
“It’s important for a few reasons,” Gartenberg said. “While Apple’s market share is still much smaller than Microsoft’s, it has shown and continues to show the type of growth and momentum that developers are interested in. That’s why we’re seeing the effort to get the Netflix player on the Mac. Macintosh customers represent a key demographic that Netflix wants to serve, so getting on that platform was an important move.”
No Flash
In developing its streaming video player, Netflix elected to use…