Weekend Wrap-up: Netflix Could Become a Cable Box App; Square Cash Challenges PayPal
Thanks for stopping by this edition of the Weekend Wrap-up, where we catch you up on some of the biggest news stories in tech from the past week.
Could Netflix Show Up on Your Cable Box?
If you’re praying for services like Netflix to take out the cable giants, you might want to check your enthusiasm at the door. According to reports from the Wall Street Journal, Netflix has been chatting with cable companies about potentially putting a Netflix app on cable boxes, allowing cable subscribers to access the service without the need for a separate set-top box. While it would certainly make things convenient for Netflix users who also have cable, it does suggest that, perhaps, Netflix is comfortable with simply supplementing cable instead of supplanting it completely.
Square Cash Enters PayPal’s Territory
Square, the mobile e-commerce platform that recently expanded to include online marketplace transactions, has now rolled out a cash transfer service for the everyday Joe and Jane. The service, called Square Cash, enters PayPal’s market as a way to send and receive money through the Web. You can send money to a friend by simply sending an email to them with the amount in the subject line (ex. $5) and copying cash@square.com on the message. Will it make inroads on PayPal’s user base? We’ll find out in time.
Apple Snags Former Burberry CEO for Retail
Apple’s retail division reported a decline for the first time in four years, and the company isn’t sitting around and doing nothing about it. Apple just brought former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts on board to take charge of retail. Burberry, a high-end apparel company, matches up quite well with Apple’s view of its products as not just technology products, but as “status symbols.” Perhaps Ahrendts time at that company can help Apple improve on the retail side of things.
Sony Lets Gamers Reserve PS4 games on the PS3
Excited about the next generation of console gaming? You’re not alone in that, and if you’re a PlayStation 3 owner, you can actually get a jump on your next-generation game buying. Sony has put a couple of its PlayStation 4 games up on the PlayStation’s digital store for pre-order, where they’ll be downloadable once the game’s release date rolls around. The market is a bit bare at this point, but that should change as we get closer to the PlayStation 4’s November launch.