Netflix's Latest iPad App Removes "Add To DVD Queue" Option

Tweet

With the iPad 2 release now just a memory, we’ve got a look at the new Netflix app for the iPad, combining two things we love–watching movies and the gear on which to do so. But a strange new twist has emerged for the Netflix app’s latest iteration: the “Add to DVD Queue” button has been removed.

We first announced it back in January, but the act has actually happened. There’s no doubt that Netflix was going for a more streamlined look in its iPad app, but some might say that Netflix’s streamlining didn’t trim fat here, but outright bone. Basically, now, if you set out to find a movie that’s not available via Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” capability, you’ll instead get a message that says “disc only”. In previous versions you could simply opt to add the movie to your queue, but that option has been removed.

Some would find this a tempest in a teapot–after all, if you’re using the Netflix app anyway, you must have a net connection, so why not simply use your browser to update your queue? And they’re right; there’s no reason that that can’t be done (about the only thing you can say about it is that it’s a bit on the inconvenient side), but it does cause one to wonder why it’s being done in the first place.

One answer immediately suggests itself; if you’ve been following the various moves Netflix has been staging for any length of time, you know that Netflix has wanted to be a streaming service only from the word go. Various technological and commercial hurdles have stood in the way, but Netflix is rapidly moving in that direction. And while DVDs, which were only just a sideline, won’t be gone from the marketplace any time soon (even Netflix has been known to figure it’ll be several years yet before they dump the disc), they’re moving in that direction, and rapidly.

So what you’re seeing with this newest modification to the iOS hardware is an extension of that greater goal. Someday we’ll watch all of our movies most anywhere, and this kind of thing is just laying the groundwork to get there.