Netflix Inc. will make its international debut this fall when the rapidly growing movie subscription service offers video over the Internet in Canada.
The expansion announced Monday resolves the mystery of where Netflix will take its first step outside the United States. The company had laid out plans to move beyond the U.S. borders earlier this year without identifying a target market.
The question of how much the Canadian service will cost remains unanswered. Netflix’s most popular packages in the U.S. cost $9 to $17 per month.
The company, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., said it would provide more details in October. On Wednesday, it described the effort in Canada as a test to see where and how it should offer streaming-only services in the future.
This will mark the first time that Netflix has offered a service confined to delivering video over high-speed Internet connections. All its U.S. subscription packages combine Internet streaming with DVDs delivered through the mail.
DVDs remain the most popular feature among Netflix’s 14 million subscribers, although Internet streaming is steadily gaining usage as Netflix makes more titles available for digital delivery and more households connect their TVs to the Web.
Netflix’s lowest priced package for DVDs and unlimited Internet video is $9 per month.
Magazines backing iPad multiply
Apple Inc.’s iPad has hatched a new breed of magazines, one filled with a constantly changing mix of articles, photos and videos picked out by your friends, family and other people within your online social circle.
This new twist on digital publishing comes courtesy of Flipboard, a free iPad application that made its debut Wednesday.
Flipboard is mining the hundreds of millions of Web links posted each day on two of the world’s most popular outlets for sharing information and imagery, Facebook and Twitter.
All those links are automatically converted into a “social magazine” format that’s customized for anyone who allows Flipboard to sift through their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Instead of having to click through a hodgepodge of links, Flipboard users will be able to flip through digital pages with all the text and images already displayed on Apple’s hot-selling computer tablet.
The content of this advertising-supported magazine will change as frequently as the links posted within a Flipboard user’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
“Everyone will have a different magazine each day,” said Mike McCue, Flipboard’s CEO.
In hopes of making things even more personal, Flipboard bought another startup called Ellerdale that developed technology to analyze what kinds of information appeal to different people. Theoretically, Ellerdale would allow Flipboard to figure out users’ favorite sports teams and other unique interests, based on their reading patterns and comments.
Flipboard, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is drawing upon the assorted specialty lists created in Twitter to offer categories focused on particular interests, such as technology and sports. It also plans to hone its technology to render links from other popular social media tools, such as the photo site Flickr and the professional networking site LinkedIn.
The Associated Press
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