Netflix denies BlackBerry devices, sticks with PS Vita

This week the folks at Netflix have made it clear that they have no current plans to release a Netflix app to BlackBerry. At the same time, the brand new portable gaming system known as the PS Vita, aka PlayStation Vita, has received a 1.0 version of the application in the PlayStation Store. This set of moves makes it clear which groups Netflix, a giant in the streaming video business today, has faith in for the near and extended future, and spells bad news for RIM whose struggling mobile platform BlackBerry is at its worst sales point in several years.

It's an interesting comparison to make – one system, the PlayStation Vita, coming up in the world in its first week of being out in the wild here in the United States, while BlackBerry, an entire ecosystem of devices, falls in kind. BlackBerry also lacks such "essential" app collaborators as Yelp, Spotify, Kindle, and Hulu. The PS Vita on the other hand already has Netflix and Facebook – though, to be fair, the Facebook app has been pulled earlier today due to unforeseen complications – but will be re-released soon!

UPDATE: We now have a statement from Netflix group:

"Generally our goal is to be on every screen that's relevant to our members and we add more devices all the time. That said, we don't have any current plans to support Blackberry devices, including the Playbook, though that may change in the future." – Netflix

On a more positive note for RIM, their BlackBerry PlayBook has had its latest and greatest update to PlayBook OS 2.0 which allows in specially modified Android apps. This move should provide for a wider audience for the one RIM tablet thus far, and makes for an interesting future for the now sub-$200 slate. Meanwhile the PS Vita is seeing what appears to be substantial success in the USA and UK releases thus far simply judging on response to web hype – but we'll have to wait a bit before we see those numbers in reality.

[via PCworld]