Earlier this month NetFlix increased the price of their subscription offerings (read more here and here).

And then earlier this week, NetFlix reported Q2 earnings.  You can read the Letter to Shareholders here.  NetFlix closed the quarter with nearly 24.69 million subscribers – a 65 percent jump from the year-ago period.  Netflix expects to finish the third quarter with 25 million subscribers – 12 million taking the hybrid service, 10 million choosing streaming only and 3 million subscribing to the DVD-by-mail service.

The future of the company is clearly streaming.  In the letter to shareholders Netflix reported 75 percent of its recent subscriber gains were to the streaming only service. They also wrote, “With the rapid adoption of streaming, DVD shipments for Netflix have likely peaked. Also, in Q2 the total number of subscribers who were on hybrid plans (and, therefore eligible to receive DVDs) declined slightly from Q1 (emphasis added).”

I don’t view the price increases as grab at revenue growth explicitly.  Rather I see it as a push to keep the streaming service relevant. In order for the streaming service to remain relevent (and ultimately prosper) NetFlix needs a rich, deep, and current catalog. This is clearly a focus.  Again quoting from the letter to shareholders:

We’ve spoken frequently of how we are directing savings generated from declining DVD demand into additional streaming content and marketing. During the quarter, we substantially increased sequential spending on streaming content as titles from our new content deals (discussed below) became available for streaming.

Check-in services like Foursquare and Gowalla have grown significantly in the last year. In March 2010, Foursquare hit 500K users and in the last few weeks they had surpassed 5M users.      

Building off this momentum, other services have entered the check-in fray like WeReward (pays you to check into places), GetGlue (Entertainment), Miso (TV), Philo (TV)  and of course even Facebook entered the LBS mix with Facebook Places.  

Device aspects like integrated GPS, larger screens, improved OS, and better connectivity began to reach critical mass over the last two years – making LBS technically more feasible.  But it was arguably the gaming aspects of the LBS offerings that provided early motivation – enough to finally jump-start a category. Gaming does well in the mobile environment naturally because it fills voids created by boredom. Besting a friend to become mayor of your favorite restaurant or capturing badges provided just the right level of gaming to fill small amounts of time and boredom.

Two weeks ago I wrote a post on my top 15 tech products for 2010.  Here are a few of my favorite web services (in no particular order):

1. Pandora: My single music source when I’m by a computer and now that I’ve integrated Boxee into the WMC connected to my primary TV, I find myself tuning in more frequently from the living-room/kitchen as well.  Looking forward to seeing how airplay-enabled speakers will impact my audio listening habits in 2011.

2. AwardWallet: Think of AwardWallet as Mint.comfor frequent flyer accounts. I would argue it is even better.  Mint.com never stuck with me, but I use AwardWallet religiously.  You can track existing trips and receive email updates of program accruals. I’ve never found either of these especially valuable.  For the former I rely exclusively on TripIt to organize all facets of upcoming travel.  The email updates are marginally helpful. But as far as organizing frequent flyer programs go, I haven’t found anything comparable to AwardWallet. In the past I’ve used MileTracker but in the end it completely failed me. I have yet to find a program not covered by AwardWallet – and I currently track 33 different accounts. A great feature is the ability to track accounts for different individuals in a single place and share access with them. So if your wife also has frequent flyer accounts you can track them in a single AwardWallet account, but you can each have your own log-in.  Another key feature is the ability to see when miles are set to expire due to inactivity. 

3. Google Reader: I was a Bloglines loyalist and when they announced they were closing their doors I transitioned to Google Reader.  I miss Bloglines, but moving back wasn’t as seamless as it should have been so I haven’t fully moved back yet.

4. Genieo: Genieo uses your search and browser history to built intelligence into your home page by populating it with articles relevant to your history. I’ve been using Genieo for a few months now.  The personal homepage has gotten smarter, and while I typically detest pop-ups, I’ve found many of the pop-ups more worthwhile than a distraction.The favorite sites tab hasn’t been useful yet, nor has the day in pictures (though I like the concept). One huge complaint – I frequently use google for directions by simply typing in the origin-destination in the google search bar and then clicking the map tab when I click through.  I also do this with products by clicking through the shopping tab on the google homepage.  Neither of these tabs exist Genieo-Google page which is incredibly frustrating and nearly makes it worth abandoning Genieo.   

5. Tumblr: I experimented with Tumblr early on but didn’t find a fit for microblogging outside of Twitter. But in the last few months I’ve found Tumblr useful for organizing photos and other posts enroute to Twitter.  I imagine my use of Tumblr will expand in 2011.

6. Twitter (over Facebook)

other web services to do more with in 2011:

1. Spotify: can it live up to the hype if it ever sees official support in the US?

2. OneTrueFan: another tool to build/find relevency.

3. IceRocket: the best blog and twitter search engine?

4. Presentation tools Tableau and Prezi: I intended to use Tableau all year and it just never happened, but I do plan to use Prezi for atleast one of my CES presenations.