14 DAY TRIAL // Video streaming seems to have become the next big hit when it comes down to consumer entertainment devices as more and more such units pop up every other day, so this is one trend that even Netflix doesn't afford to ignore, the company's CEO recently announcing they will launch a streaming-only service in the US.
This announcement comes straight from the company's chief executive Reed Hastings, cited by PC Mag, as he said users should expect a streaming-only service to be available in the US soon, for about $7.99.
This is a lot similar to what Netflix has done in Canada where such a service is already available for 7.99 Canadian dollars.
As eager as some of you were to hear this, one has to notice however, the timing chosen by Netflix's CEO, this announcement coming shortly after Hulu made Hulu Plus available for the same exact fee (after initially Hulu Plus was launched at $9.99).
During the same interview, Hastings also said the company is seeing "very little impact" from Apple's iPad tablet, contrary to what they witness when it comes down to Sony's PlayStation 3 and Microsoft's Xbox 360 console, which he referred to as "a huge phenomenon".
Minimizing, even more, iPad's role in the grand scheme of things, Hastings continued to say that viewership on Mac laptops is greatly ahead that on the iPad as viewers simply prefer watching movies on a big-screen TV rather than the iPad's 10 inch display.
Moving ahead into the future, Hastings told PC Mag that he sees Internet connected TVs as a huge opportunity when it comes down to home entertainment since a third of televisions sold within the U.S. this year will come WiFi enabled, after three years virtually all HDTVs featuring Internet connectivity.
Unfortunately, no further infos regarding when this new Netflix service will be available to US costumers are avilable at this time.