Surprise: Netflix coming to the iPhone, iPod and iPad

Today’s Apple big iPad day and also the day Netflix used to announce that an iPod and iPhone application was on the way (the iPad app is already available now). If you remember a few weeks ago a Netflix streaming application was shown on Windows Phone 7 during the MIX10 keynote (see video below) and prompted speculation about an iPhone/iPod/iPadversion (the majority thought that their won’t be one because of Microsoft’s relations with Netflix). For those of you who don’t know, Netflix has been a really close Microsoft partner (CEO Reed Hastings is also on Microsoft’s Board) as demonstrated by the launch of the service on the XBOX360 nearly one year before the PS3 & Wii and the use of Silverlight IIS smooth streaming for the PC & Mac version.

Today’s announcment once again sheds a light on Microsoft’s current mobile situation and will hopefully make people understand why the Windows Phone team is relegating some features like copy/paste, business centric stuff to a later date and focusing on shipping a consumer ready OS with solid APIs and Marketplace. The iPad may not be the device many expected, but what is everybody talking about today? All the new applications available for it. This is what Microsoft is seeking, this is what is going to make the platform a success. Don’t worry about all the missing features at launch, they will be available down the road. This screenshot below is IMO the best Windows Phone 7 feature: