14 DAY TRIAL // Exciting news for the few lucky Windows Phone 7 smartphone owners, as Netflix has just announced that its instant streaming video service is now available for Microsoft's latest mobile operating system.
The announcement came as a big surprise as the majority of users were expecting the service to be available on Android devices first, before any possible plans to make it compatible with Windows Phone 7.
The service is now available for Netflix members in both the U.S. and Canada and will enable customers to instantly watch TV shows and movies on their Windows Phone 7 smartphones. The application is available in the Marketplace Video Store and is free for download.
Along with the launch of its Windows Phone 7 application, Netflix also enhanced the service on Xbox 360 consoles with a new search capability.
It is unclear why Netflix hasn't been able to make its service available for Android devices to date, but it seems that their Windows Phone 7 application streams via Silverlight, which is already used on some versions of the desktop app.
Basically, Netflix only had to redesign the UI of the application for Windows Phone 7, as the coding is similar to the one in the desktop version. It looks like Android users will have to wait longer until Netflix manages to make its service available for the fastest growing mobile OS on the market.
Even though it might seem odd to launch a service on devices that are not widely available yet, it looks like Netflix is trying to put its services into place before Windows Phone 7 will actually penetrate the smartphone market.
As a side note, some Xbox 360 users are unhappy with Netflix services, as reports about a possible bug in the instant queue feature are growing. The said bug makes the console automatically auto scroll through the list of titles after only a few seconds.