Page 23 - ARUBA TODAY
P. 23

A23
                                                                                           TECHNOLOGY Wednesday 19 april 2017


















                 Netflix standing on the threshold of 100 million subscribers



            MICHAEL LIEDTKE                                                                                                     ily  on  original  shows  such
            AP Technology Writer                                                                                                as  “Stranger  Things”  and
            SAN  FRANCISCO  (AP)  —                                                                                             “House of Cards” and sell-
            Netflix  is  on  the  verge  of                                                                                     ing its service at a relatively
            surpassing 100 million glob-                                                                                        low price. Netflix’s subscrip-
            al subscribers, a testament                                                                                         tions range from $8 to $12
            to  how  much  the  video                                                                                           per  month,  with  the  most
            streaming    service   has                                                                                          popular option at $10.
            changed  the  entertain-                                                                                            “The  model  works  from
            ment  landscape  since  its                                                                                         a  consumer  perspective
            debut a decade ago.                                                                                                 because it is such a good
            The  company  will  reach                                                                                           value,” Pachter said.
            that  milestone  this  week-                                                                                        In a measure of how much
            end  if  its  projections  are                                                                                      Netflix  subscribers  like  the
            correct.  Netflix  made  the                                                                                        service, Hastings said Mon-
            prediction  Monday  with                                                                                            day  that  they  collectively
            the release of its first-quar-                                                                                      stream more than 1 billion
            ter earnings.                                                                                                       hours of programming per
            The  service  added  nearly                                                                                         week.
            5 million subscribers during                                                                                        By  comparison,  Google
            the first three months of the                                                                                       says  about  1  billion  hours
            year,  and  will  end  March                                                                                        of  video  per  day  are
            with 98.7 million customers                                                                                         watched  on  its  mostly
            in roughly 190 countries.    This Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2017, file photo, shows Netflix on a tablet, in North Andover, Mass.   free YouTube service. “We
                                                                                                               Associated Press
            THANK THE SMARTPHONE                                                                                                have YouTube envy,” Hast-
            Over  the  past  decade,     most  people  in  the  United  $1.90  to  $149.15  in  Mon-  of the channel that was in-  ings joked.
            “what really did it for Net-  States  and  then  eventu-  day’s  extended  trading,  spired by Netflix’s success.   WILL NETFLIX RAISE PRICES?
            flix  was  the  explosion  of   ally hopefully most people  even  though  subscriber  Other cable channels also     Pachter and other analysts
            phones  and  tablets  that   around  the  world,”  Hast-  growth during the first quar-  are  offering  internet-only   wonder  how  long  Netflix
            allowed  people  to  watch   ings said.                   ter  came  in  slightly  below  options  as  more  viewers,   will be able to hold the line
            video  everywhere,”  said    Progress toward that ambi-   management forecasts.        especially  younger  peo-    on  price  as  its  program-
            Wedbush  Securities  ana-    tious goal has helped drive  STILL CHASING HBO            ple,  eschew  traditional  TV   ming  costs  rise  in  tandem
            lyst  Michael  Pachter.  “But   the company’s stock price  For all its success, Netflix still  packages and subscribe to   with  its  appeal  to  a  more
            Netflix  clearly  had  a  vision   progressively  higher  over  has a ways to go before it  streaming services instead.  diverse  international  audi-
            before  those  devices  be-  the  past  five  years.  In  that  catches  up  with  HBO,  the  The  trend  has  confronted   ence.  Movie  and  TV  stu-
            came so ubiquitous.”         time,  Netflix  has  added  72  popular  pay-TV  channel  Netflix  with  more  com-    dios typically also demand
            About 51 million of Netflix’s   million more subscribers.  that  has  served  as  its  role  petition  in  the  battle  for   more money as more peo-
            subscribers  are  in  the  U.S.   The  Los  Gatos,  California  model.  HBO  has  134  mil-  household  entertainment   ple  subscribe  to  channels
            By the end of this year, Pip-  company   currently   has  lion  subscribers  worldwide,  budgets.  Netflix  so  far   to in an effort to make as
            er  Jaffray  analyst  Michael   a  market  value  of  about  including  viewers  paying  has  answered  the  chal-  much  as  possible  off  their
            Olson expects the majority   $63  billion.  Its  stock  rose  for an internet-only version  lenge  by  spending  heav-  content.q
            of the company’s subscrib-
            ers  to  be  overseas.  Netflix   Computer pioneer Robert W. Taylor dies at 85
            ended  March  with  nearly
            48  million  subscribers  out-  WOODSIDE,  Calif.  (AP)  —  ect  manager  for  NASA  rate  terminals  to  commu-    PARC, where he was over-
            side the U.S.                Robert W. Taylor, who was  when  he  directed  funding  nicate  with  the  research-   saw  a  team  that  helped
            Netflix  CEO  Reed  Hastings   instrumental in creating the  to Douglas Engelbart at the  ers through their computer  create the Alto,
            expects  the  next  100  mil-  internet  and  the  modern  Stanford Research Institute,  systems.                     a  pioneering  personal
            lion  subscribers  to  come   personal  computer,  has  who  helped  develop  the  ARPANET, as it was known,  computer.
            more  quickly  than  the  first   died. He was 85.        modern computer mouse.       evolved  into  the  internet.  The Alto supplied each re-
            100  million,  but  he  didn’t   Taylor,  who  had  Parkin-  Taylor  was  working  for  the  As  Taylor  predicted,  the  searcher with an individual
            provide  a  specific  timeta-  son’s  disease,  died  Thurs-  Pentagon’s Advanced Re-  limited   communications  workstation instead of shar-
            ble during online video re-  day at his home in the San  search  Projects  Agency  in  tool morphed into a system  ing  time  on  a  room-sized
            view of the company’s first   Francisco  Peninsula  com-  1966 when he shepherded  that  supplies  people  with  mainframe. It was designed
            quarter.                     munity  of  Woodside,  his  the  creation  of  a  single  fingertip  access  to  every-  to use a graphical user in-
            “Everybody  watches  TV      son,  Kurt  Taylor,  told  the  computer  network  to  link  thing  from  encyclopedias  terface,  which  enabled
            and nearly everybody has     Los  Angeles  Times  (http://  ARPA-sponsored  research-  to investment advice.        the  user  to  command  the
            the internet, so I don’t see   lat.ms/2oerEuc)  and  the  ers at companies and insti-  A  few  years  later,  Taylor  device through icons, win-
            anything  that’s  going  to   New York Times (http://nyti.  tutions around the country.  went on to work at the Xe-  dows  and  menus  instead
            stop Netflix from getting to   ms/2nNyf2F).               Taylor  was  frustrated  that  rox  Corp.’s  famous  Palo  of typing text commands in
                                         In  1961,  Taylor  was  a  proj-  he had to use three sepa-  Alto  Research  Center,  or  computer language.q
   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28