For the first time ever, Netflix is anticipating shipping out less DVDs than the last quarter. This has never happened before, and is not a sign of stagnation. Rather, it is a sign of alternate growth. Because just as Netflix approaches the shipment of its 3 billionth disc, they are also the industry leader in the online streaming of movies and TV shows over the Internet.
And with gigabit-per-second speeds predicted to reach the home over the next decade, the physical disk is going to be dead. But, it looks like Netflix is going to not only be the last major player in the old world. But be the future’s big player as well.
The king is dead. Long live the king.