Did Netflix Invent the Binge?

No. As frequently as its’ claimed (shout out to you- Wired Magazine) Netflix far from invented the tv-binge where an entire series is watched straight through. Bingewatching has been happening ever since the first series appeared on VHS and other tape formats(if you don’t know what that is- ask your parents). I’ve talked to several people who told me they binged through series on DVD while in college.

What Netflix did was innovate. They took an existing process, and made it much easier. Instead of having to buy or rent the series, you can stream it to your computer in seconds. It’s portable, cheap ($8 a month), and easy.

My point here isn’t to advertise for Netflix. My point is to say that the greatest products take an existing process and simplify it. Many people are questioning Netflix’s plan to release all of the “Arrested Development” remake episodes at once, but they’re doing what they should do. They’re providing easier access to match consumer habits, and they’ll see a reward from that.

So, what other products follow this trend of innovation?

How about the iPhone? The iPhone wasn’t an invention. We had phones with music, and that surfed the web, and we even had a few handheld touch devices. Apple took the concept, streamlined the most common processes, and opened it up to developers, and they were rewarded for it. They innovated an existing system, and that’s basically the path to success with any company these days. Facebook didn’t invent social networking and Google didn’t invent search. Twitter didn’t even invent microblogging. They all simply offered the best solutions, grew the fastest, and won their markets.

I could go on, but between the last sentence and this, I fell out of my chair, braced and tensed to avoid hitting the metal bottom, and really hurt my back, so for the sake of keeping this article focussed (it would go in all different directions if I wrote in pain) I’ll end it here with a question.

What’s your favorite application of innovation?