Instant Netflix

Apparently it's just like adding water to instant rolled oats, except instead of water you want an X-box360 with a Live membership (and you can avoid the step with the stove). Put simply, this new method of access to media allows for the consumer to watch their Netflix movies on the same screen they enjoy their X-box experience. See the BusinessWeek story here.

Does this line of business potentially increase Netflix's sources of competitive advantage relative to competitors?

What is blockbuster retaliating with, you ask... find out here.

Does this change your evaluation of the sustainability of this potential source of competitive advantage?

As an aside, any thoughts why X-box 360 outsold the Sony PS3 3-to-1 on Black Friday, and X-box was up 25% from last year's sales?

Rock on...

So here's an interesting question posited by David Edery in Steven Dubner's Freakonomics blog: Can guitar hero help save the music industry?

Some interesting 'statistics' from the article:

Weezer’s “My Name is Jonas,” a song originally released in 1994, saw a tenfold increase in sales when included in Guitar Hero 3.
Songs from The Who’s greatest hits released for Rock Band, experienced a 159 percent increase in SoundScan sales.
A special guitar hero featuring Aerosmith’s music resulted in more revenue for the band than any individual Aerosmith album.

So if this is valuable 'free advertising' for the record industry, why would they still charge the software companies money to include their licensed songs?