As you may remember, back in November, there were talks about Netflix finally coming to Android. The main reason for the delay was security and DRM. Netflix has been available on the iPhone for a while and has been available on Windows Phone 7 since its launch, but it hasn’t been seen on Android yet. According to VentureBeat, Netflix is certifying new Qualcomm chips, meaning that existing ones might not be able to use Netflix.
We can’t find a source confirming this information about current phones, but if the Netflix app is going to require a “Netflix Certified” Qualcomm Snapdragon chip, then we can only guess that this rumor is true. These new Qualcomm chips might be available as early as the 2nd quarter 2011, which means even the newest phones don’t have it yet.
“Although we don’t have a common platform security mechanism and DRM, we are able to work with individual handset manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Unfortunately, this is a much slower approach and leads to a fragmented experience on Android, in which some handsets will have access to Netflix and others won’t. This clearly is not the preferred solution, and we regret the confusion it might create for consumers. However, we believe that providing the service for some Android device owners is better than denying it to everyone.”
Source: VentureBeat