Comment by mortenjorck | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mortenjorck | Hacker News Reader

  At another point, Netflix created a dedicated device through 
  which to access its content, only to decide that adapting its 
  service to everything from mobile phones to TV sets made more 
  sense. (The Netflix device was spun out into its own company, 
  Roku.)

Pretty sure this is a factual error in the article. As far as I know, Roku existed as a consumer electronics company independent of Netflix for years before it produced any Netflix streaming devices - anyone remember the Roku SoundBridge series of home audio devices?

I’m not clear on the actual relationship between Roku and Netflix (they are both based in Los Gatos) but saying the Netflix hardware was “spun out” into Roku cannot be accurate.

This is somewhat accurate. The Netflix Player was an internal Netflix project. Close to launch, Hastings realized that other device makers would balk at Netflix making their own hardware, so it became a Roku product. [1] Most articles I've seen about this say Netflix spun off Roku, but like you I remember they definitely existed as a company before that. Did they simply just transfer that whole department to Roku? Did they have any kind of relationship before that? It's a little murky.

[1] https://www.fastcompany.com/3004709/inside-netflixs-project-...

If I recall correctly, the 'Netflix Player' was a partnership between Roku and Netflix. I suspect that the remark about Roku being 'spun out' is likely due to an misunderstanding about that partnership.

You're right.

We sold SoundBridges at my old job in the mid 2000s - I'm pretty sure Netflix was still postage only at that time

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