It's a terrible move because how I go about finding a movie to watch is very important to me. I want to be able to search for movies, browse a genre, or rate movies and get recommendations all through one easy to use interface. I will decide whether I want to stream the movie or wait for it in the mail. How you handle it internally I don't really care. I'm even willing to pay for the services separately.
Now, let's compare to cable. If I sign up for Comcast cable with HBO, I would also pay for the services separately. But, I don't want to have two boxes with two remotes sitting next to my TV just so I can watch HBO separately.
When I log into amazon.com I can buy physical items like DVDs, or purchase digital items like eBooks or MP3s, or I can stream movies. Maybe they're handled internally by different departments. I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that I can do everything from one interface with one account. I don't need to go to amazulu.com to watch movies and kindlebooks.com to buy books.
Simply put, convenience is a HUGE value. Something that I am willing to pay for. I didn't even sweat the Netflix price hike because the value was still there for me. But if you're going to make it HARDER for me to find and watch a movie, I don't see how that's worth paying for.
It's a terrible move because how I go about finding a movie to watch is very important to me. I want to be able to search for movies, browse a genre, or rate movies and get recommendations all through one easy to use interface. I will decide whether I want to stream the movie or wait for it in the mail. How you handle it internally I don't really care. I'm even willing to pay for the services separately.
Now, let's compare to cable. If I sign up for Comcast cable with HBO, I would also pay for the services separately. But, I don't want to have two boxes with two remotes sitting next to my TV just so I can watch HBO separately.
When I log into amazon.com I can buy physical items like DVDs, or purchase digital items like eBooks or MP3s, or I can stream movies. Maybe they're handled internally by different departments. I don't know and I don't care. All I know is that I can do everything from one interface with one account. I don't need to go to amazulu.com to watch movies and kindlebooks.com to buy books.
Simply put, convenience is a HUGE value. Something that I am willing to pay for. I didn't even sweat the Netflix price hike because the value was still there for me. But if you're going to make it HARDER for me to find and watch a movie, I don't see how that's worth paying for.