Netflix Fanatic Hijacked by Apple

Tai was always worried about something like this happening to us:

Over the summer, Cricket Media released Netflix Fanatic, a Mac OS X app that extended the features of the popular Netflix online DVD rental service. Netflix Fanatic enabled users to rearrange their movie queue and access a wide range of features without having to log onto the Netflix Web site.

Last month, the developer stopped sales and downloads of Netflix Fanatic. “Due to a dispute with my employer, I will no longer be developing or distributing Netflix Fanatic,” the developer said on his Web site. “If another company or individual takes up the reins or decides to develop a similar product, I will update this page with that information.”

What I wonder about this is whether Apple’s trying to roll this into a Sherlock channel so it can be distributed by them and streamlined into a more Apple-ish UI. Because that would rock ass. Boo-hoo for the developer, right? But the thing is, he signed something saying Apple could do that if it saw fit. Whether this is fair of Apple to do or not, I don’t know, but the guy always knew it was a possibility.

• Category: Macintosh