Netflix App Coming to the Android OS

Netflix has promised to introduce a version of its streaming video service for devices running Google's Android operating system.

However, Greg Peters, vice president of product development, warns that problems with with DRM (digital rights managements) are slowing the release. He wrote on his company's blog:

The same security issues that have led to piracy concerns on the Android platform have made it difficult for us to secure a common Digital Rights Management (DRM) system on these devices.

This company has contractual obligations with the major movie studios that require Netflix to have a robust DRM system in place before it can release any streaming video app.

Peters says that his company is being forced by Android's "lack of a generic and complete platform security and content protection mechanism" to develop a DRM system tailored for each Android OS model on a case-by-case basis. This means that the Netflix app will be released for some smartphones but not all.

The Android OS version of the Netflix app will be available for select models early next year. It is already available for Apple's iPhone as well as models running Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

Source