Netflix Finally Comes to Android

Netflix is finally coming to Android

Call the angels, release the doves, form a conga line and do the cha cha. Netflix is considered to be one of the killer applications that makes a smartphone or tablet worth buying and has been sorely missing from the Android repertoire. Netflix announced today in a blog post that select Android smartphones will be getting the movie streaming application while other Android devices will be rolling out within the coming months as the company tests streaming playback support.

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The first five lucky phones to get Netflix include four from HTC – Incredible, EVO 4G, Nexus and G2. The Samsung Nexus S will also be included in the first batch of phones. That means that anybody who owns a Motorola Android or any Samsung Galaxy S (among the many Android builds) will have to wait as Netflix goes through its testing.

“Because the platform has evolved so rapidly, there are some significant challenges associated with developing a streaming video application for this ecosystem,” wrote Netflix’s Roma De on the company’s blog. “One of these challenges is the lack of standard streaming playback features that the Netflix application can use to gain broad penetration across all available Android phones. In the absence of standardization, we have to test each individual handset and launch only on those that can support playback.”

Netflix said they are “aggressively qualifying phones and are looking forward to expanding the list of phones” that Netflix will support. The announcement will be a tease to most Android owners but at least the company is moving to support as many devices as possible. There were thoughts in the industry that Netflix would have to wait for Ice Cream Sandwich to become stable or only use phones with a particular processor (like a Qualcomm Snapdragon). That, fortunately, appears not to be the case.

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