Morning Tech Wrap: Netflix, iPad, Samsung

Samsung's teaser for the Galaxy Tab

Shares of Netflix dropped by nearly $12 or 5.8% yesterday after Warner Bros. announced it was the first Hollywood movie studio to stream movies on Facebook, positioning the social network as a potential threat against the video streaming service. It introduced Facebook’s new service by offering “The Dark Knight” to rent for 48 hours at a price of 30 virtual Facebook Credits, equivalent to $3.  Barron’s cited Goldman Sachs analyst Ingrid Chung as saying that the new service posed no immediate threat to Netflix sice it was effectively “pay per view,” rather than a streaming subscription. But, she says, Facebook boasts 500 million active users to Netflix’s 20 million subscribers and the “wisdom of friends” could drive viewership on the social network.
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Apple’s iPad 2 could burst a bubble for other competitors struggling to catch up on in the race to grab a piece of the tablet market, according to JP Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz, cited on Apple Insider. He warns that build plans for tablet shipments by rivals may be too high, presenting “increasing risk of a bubble burst” in the second half of 2011.
Meanwhile Apple’s decision to cut the price of its first-generation iPad and keep the iPad 2 at $499 has forced two or three notebook brand vendors to postpone their tablet PC models’ launch schedule until they can reduce their own related costs, according to a report in Digitimes citing sources from notebook players.
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A Chinese blogger who had his Facebook account suspended because he used a pseudonym says he now feels less worthy than Mark Zuckerberg’s dog, after the Facebook founder recently created a profile page for the pet. Zhao Jing has had an account since 2007 under the name Michael Anti, a professional identity he has had for more than a decade for published articles and essays, according to The Guardian. ”I’m really, really angry. I can’t function using my Chinese name,” he said, adding he had been cut off from a network of around 1,000 academic and professional contacts. Facebook says it has a “real name” policy in place to create a safer, more trustworthy environment for people who use the site.
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Samsung has released a teaser photo of its forthcoming 8.9 inch tablet. Endgadget’s Richard Lai says it looks promising. “As you can see [from the photo above], the bulge seems to imply that the tablet’s general thickness almost matches the headphone jack’s height,” he writes. “If true, this would put Samsung’s 8.9-incher head to head with Apple’s 8.8mm thick iPad 2 in a fitness contest. Bring on March 22nd!”
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Swedish music streaming service Spotify announced today that it had reached a million paid subscribers two years after its launch. Co-founder Daniel Ek said in a blog post that this was “only the beginning.” Last month Spotify was the subject of a new $100 million funding round from internet investment funds DST Global and Kleiner Perkins, valuing the company at a reported $1 billion. Spotify has been in negotiations with the big four major music labels about entering the U.S. market and sources close to the company have told Forbes the talks have been successful.
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The addictive mobile game Angry Birds is set to launch on Facebook in May, according to The Next Web, which was a little later than expected. The new Facebook will reportedly have “completely new aspects to it that just haven’t been experienced in any other platform,” according to Rovio CEO Mikael Hed.
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Mashable’s Chris Taylor has profiled a new iPad app called Zite, and calls it the tablet’s smartest magazine yet. The free app constantly learns what you like to read on the iPad and creates a magazine tailored to your needs by actively filtering content, making it a viable competitor to Flipboard. The app’s “secret sauce” is that it learns from your everyday reading, “just as Netflix and Amazon bring you movies and products that users similar to you liked.” Watch the video below.

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