August 3, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Not related.

Push Pop Press, maker of innovative ebooks for the iPad, has just been acquired by Facebook. But don’t start thinking that this means you’ll soon be putting ebooks in your shopping cart directly from Facebook (though there are already a ton of ecommerce solutions with integrated shopping carts operating on Facebook right now, and more every day). More likely this is what is increasingly being referred to as an “acqui-hire,” where a giant corporation like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, or Amazon scoops up a smaller company with what is, on the surface, an acquisition, but really what they want is the talent.

For a look at why Facebook might want to do this, just take a look a Push Pop’s website. Basically the only two things it’s there for is to showcase their awesome technology and technical skill and to let you put Al Gore’s ebook “Our Choice” into your shopping cart. Push Pop specializes in “blowing up the book” (as Wired magazine put it) by adding interactive images, maps, charts, etc. to the traditional reading experience. It makes sense – what’s the point of having an iPad/iPad2, arguably one of the most technologically advanced personal computing devices widely available for personal use, if you’re just going to read straight-up, black and white text?

The technology that Push Pop has pioneered could definitely be put to good use on the Facebook website. They said as much in a statement (from Push Pop):

“Although Facebook isn’t planning to start publishing digital books, the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories. With millions of people publishing to Facebook each day, we think it’s going to be a great home for Push Pop Press.”

Social media is all about interactivity and integration. With the deeper functionality provided by Push Pop’s ebook-related technology, it’s easy to see how Facebook could revolutionize their own platform to allow users to expand the ways that they communicate. Again, that kind of feature upgrade seems a lot more likely than Zuckerburg and co. opening up some kind of ebook shopping cart service, especially in light of a recent NYTimes piece about how Facebook gobbles up promising startups that feature technology and/or talent that they want, then shutter the main service that made the startup noteworthy in the first place.

August 3, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

So you’re off to college next month (or maybe late this month). Good for you! Your life is about to change, filled with challenging classes, opportunities to meet new and interesting people, and all the other things that go with college. One of the most annoying parts of the whole college process is getting together all your textbooks and supplemental materials for all your classes. Well CampusBookRentals is aiming to complete with textbook rental powerhouse Chegg and inject some competition into the realm of college textbook rentals. They recently raised over 20 million dollars in growth financing to do it.

We recently covered changes to Amazon’s e-textbook rental system. Users can now access college textbooks on their Kindles or other electronic devices, acquired through Amazon’s ecommerce software, and then even retain all your important text notes when you have to relinquish the file. CampusBookRentals own ecommerce software platform allows similar functionality (albeit with physical books instead of electronic ones), but with some added benefits.

For starters, CampusBookRentals offers some pretty deep discounts on certain titles (but not all of them) compared to Chegg or Amazon. On that note, it’s worth mentioning that pricing is one major area where all textbook rental companies could use some work. The savings many of them present vs. buying the book outright don’t seem to significant, even if they do present some benefits over the hassle of selling your books back at the end of the semester (and the humiliation that always comes with it – “$13? But I paid $70 not three months ago!”).

One major advantage that CampusBookRentals’  ecommerce software offers over Chegg and Amazon is customizable rental lengths. Course durations vary by school and also by time of year. Most schools follow a standard fall/spring split, with summer being reserved usually for accelerated classes. If your rental provider only has three month deals and you are taking a six week course, where’s the cost savings for you? With CampusBookRentals, users can select from one of the premade rental durations or create their own, and the site’s ecommerce software will automatically calculate the rental price.

The face of textbooks and higher education are changing all the time due to technology. CTB McGraw Hill also recently rolled out the first ever all-digital K-12 textbook. With the increasing saturation of tablets and ereaders, it won’t be long until textbooks migrate over to electronic versions completely.

August 2, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Every ecommerce solution prides itself on safety and security. This is a vital part of making sure that customer feels confident spending money on their site. If your customers don’t trust your site to keep their sensitive personal information safe, then they certainly won’t be making any purchases. Keeping your software current is an important part of keeping your site secure, as site owners across the country and the globe found out the hard way this past weekend.

Users of osCommerce, an open sourced ecommerce solution popular with many independent online retailers was struck by a swift and infectious “mass injection” attack late last week. The initial impact affected thousands of sites, but it quickly spread as more and more unwitting users logged on and “contracted” the infection.

Online security firm Armorize, a company specializing in security systems for organizations like ecommerce solutions, estimates that there could be almost 4 million infected pages. The infection type has been referred to as a “drive by” type by some analysts, because users don’t have to actively do anything at all to allow the trojan to access their personal information. Targeting ecommerce solutions is a common tactic by hackers looking for credit card and other financial information because these users are most likely to have spent money online before.

Additionally, ecommerce solutions present an easy opportunity for hackers because so many of them are routinely abandoned or poorly maintained. Running a successful online store is challenging and requires significant time and attention to do really well. Again, the hackers were able to exploit these sites due to a failure by their owners to update them to the latest version and use security software. They also took advantage of weaknesses in JavaScript, Windows, and some Adobe software to get into people’s machines.

When shopping online it’s important to look for reputable sites with regularly updated content and “badges” from security firms that you know and trust. Shopping is an exercise in trust. You and the retailer enter into a relationship where you each agree to certain terms for mutual gain. However, when you’re shopping online, unwanted hackers can enter the relationship and ruin everything.

August 2, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The issue of taxation has often plagued ecommerce solutions, confusing even the various people who have made it their business to sort this whole thing out. As it stands now, shoppers on ecommerce solutions only have to pay sales tax if they buying from a company that has a physical location (referred to as a nexus) inside the state where the user is. In all other cases, they are supposed to remit a “use tax” to their state in lieu of the sales tax.

But nobody does.

For years states have been working on ways to close this loophole and get what’s rightfully theirs, but online retailers haven’t made it easy on them. For starters, as in most cases like this, Congress has been slow to react on a federal level, and without broader support, individual states found their abilities to enforce taxation difficult. Then came the recession – even before that, states wanted a slice of the ecommerce solution taxation cake – but the massive deficits racked up by states across the country made them even more desperate to get their hands on that revenue.

A new bill, called “The Mainstreet Fairness Act,” could create a more comprehensive, easy-to-handle solution for states, ecommerce solutions, and small businesses alike. One of the most contentious issues for small businesses has been the fact that online shoppers can come into a brick-and-mortar store, try out an item, then go online and find it at a significantly reduced price (eBay acquired a company called RedLaser with barcode scanning technology that does exactly this). So not only do the states lose out on tax revenue, but small businesses lose out on income as well. Representative Peter Welch, one of the bill’s champions in the House, had this to say:

“When a consumer can walk into a store, try out a product and then go home and buy it online without paying sales tax, Main Street businesses and downtowns lose.”

Not every ecommerce solution is dreading passage of this new law, either. Amazon, despite their latest California fiasco where they shuttered facilities there to prevent having to pay the appropriate taxes to that state, openly supports the law. In addition to leading a coalition of other online retailers who support it, Paul Misener, Amazon‘s vice president for global public policy wrote this in a letter to the politicians working on the law:

“Introduction of your bill returns the discussion of interstate collection of sales tax to Congress, which the Supreme Court says is the appropriate forum to resolve the issue. Amazon looks forward to working with you and your colleagues in Congress to help enact sales tax collection legislation.”

August 1, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Alibaba, a Chinese company best known for operating online ecommerce solutions like the consumer marketplace Taobao, has announced that it will be rolling out its own smartphone. The operating system that will power the device has been dubbed “Aliyun.” The OS is based off of using the cloud for most of its functionality. There are already plans in the works to bring the OS to other larger devices, like tablets and larger screen phones, which should be one of many red flags for competitor Google. Another red flag: Aliyun is “fully compatible” with apps and software designed for Google’s Android platform.

The first handset out of the gate will be produced by Beijing Tianyu Communication Equipment Co. and retail for about $416 US. That’s a pretty penny for a smartphone, but China has seen massive expansion of both its smartphone infrastructure and smartphone usage. Just like how increased broadband access is routinely accompanied by increased internet usage and higher sales from ecommerce solutions to people in those areas.

And of course a new phone with a new operating system means multiple business deals all around. While the first handset will feature parts from Nvidia, Alibaba is already in talks with Qualcom to try to get some of its chips into future products. Beijing Tainyu is also already getting ready to roll out a Aliyun tablet in the near future too. Reportedly Alibaba is also courting software companies to get their apps pre-loaded onto devices as they roll out. Building a phone or OS, or at least partnering with someone who has, can be one way for an ecommerce solution or other business to up their conversions by having their native apps included in the phone’s initial software bundle.

The US smartphone market is increasingly crowded. Every day people buy Android phones, iPhones, tablets, and other high tech goodies in stores and via ecommerce solutions. All these providers would love to crack open the Chinese markets, one of the largest, fastest growing markets in the world. Having a home-grown competitor doesn’t make it impossible for outside tech to compete (and win!) in China, but it does make the contest more interesting.

August 1, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

Hot on the heels of hearing about how Expedia, Groupon, and a host of other travel/group deals ecommerce solutions have been and are still changing the travel game for vaction-hungry shoppers, comes an Adweek/Harris poll that shows significant percentages of Americans working on their vacations. The doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Only two months ago CNN came out with an article about the sorry state of the American vacation.

To summarize for those who don’t know (or who are probably too busy working to have kept up with the news!), not only do Americans have the least number of paid vacation days compared to any other industrialized nation, but during the times when they are supposed to be “off,” the continue to do work activities. Now, in the face of the massive recession the US is facing right now, only about 40% of respondents said that they were planning to take a vacation this summer, and an additional 12% said that they were considering it.

According to the poll, 46% of Americans who were going to vacation (or had already) said that they were at least going do some work during their vacations. The poll characterized 35% of respondents as saying that they would “monitor” their e-mails. 22% will check voicemails and/or take/make phone calls.

Now this poll just gives a general look at how much time the average American will spend doing work-related activities while on “vacation,” but how about those bold entrepreneurs whose livelihoods are tied to an ecommerce solution or shopping cart software system? While many of the most advanced ecommerce solutions feature reliable hosting options that limit (or supposedly eliminate) downtime, there’s always the threat that some catastrophe could occur, costing you immense amounts of lost revenue until you figure it out and fix it.

Additionally, more and more Americans (small business and tech industry workers especially) carry smartphones. These incredibly useful devices allow you instant access to email, voicemail, phone calls, and can allow you to monitor your ecommerce solution’s functionality as well as deal with any customer service issues that come up. Perhaps the greatest asset and drawback of the world of online business is that it can be done from anywhere. Does that mean that you never get to “vacation” or that every day is a vacation?

July 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

How do you say “Cha-ching!” in Chinese (and in which dialect)? Zynga, whose massively popular social games are a hit on Facebook for computers and mobile devices alike, is launching its hottest game – “Cityville” – in China. Who won’t be there? Facebook. The world’s most popular social network is banned in China, a country rife with free speech issues and censorship.

The launch is made possible by cooperation with Tencent, a Chinese Internet portal. The initial launch will be through their “Pengyou” site, which has over 101 million users. This is a great opportunity for Zynga to expand their user base, which already boasts 80 million active monthly users worldwide. Jim Tang, an analyst at Shenyin & Wanguo Securities Co., volunteered this opinion and insight:

“Tencent’s strategy is to offer platforms with a wide variety of games and other services. They have a huge client base. If you cooperate with them, Tencent can guarantee a very large user base.”

It’s also a chance for them to diversify their revenue streams, as critics of their IPO have marked Zynga’s reliability on Facebook for revenue as a liability. That’s definitely a factor, considering that most of their money came in via purchases made through in-game ecommerce solutions. This is a popular monetization technique called “freemium,” where a game is free to play, but users have access to ecommerce solutions within the game where they can trade real world cash for virtual goods to improve gameplay.

A number of ecommerce solutions have sought to make Facebook a reliable source of income – whether they be businesses that exist solely online, brick-and-mortar stores looking to expand their virtual presence, or apps and games that need a revenue stream to continue development. But apparently Zynga feels bold enough to expand into China even without Facebook backing them up. Their Cityville game will be rebranded as “Zynga City,” and revamped to include typically Chinese elements from the nation’s history and present pop culture, all designed to make transition smooth for new users.

The in-game ecommerce solution will stay also, in an effort to draw in more revenue. Mirae Asset Securities Co. estimates that the social/mobile-game market will be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of 27 billion yuan ($4.2 billion) by 2015. Getting in on the ground floor now could mean even bigger bucks for Zynga down the road – on top of the fact that they hope to make about a billion dollars when they go public.

July 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The world is a hectic, fast-paced, busy place, and it’s only getting bigger, busier, and more crowded. Luckily, a unique app with a one-of-a-kind integrated ecommerce software system is helping people with not enough time hook up with people with not enough cash to create the ultimate win-win: busy people get their tasks done, and task-doers get to pay the rent!

“TaskRabbit” (formerly Run My Errand) allows “Task Posters” to list a specific duty (go grocery shopping, picking up laundry, etc.) on their ecommerce software, along with detailed directions and a price tag. Members of their community of vetted, background-checked “TaskRabbits” then have the opportunity to select the job. Jobs are usually pegged with a timeframe, which makes ideal TaskRabbits people with extra time on their hands, such as retirees, stay-at-home parents (who can go mobile with their kids), or people who are underemployed or have weird hours available (waiters, etc.).

The reason TaskRabbit is in the news, other than be super-awesome and convenient, is because they just launched their official iPad and iPhone apps (and also went live in NYC – they’re already in San Fran, LA and Orange County, as well as Boston). With the added convenience of an app to allow users to easily add photos and even voice-record instructions, it’s lowering the barrier to entry for people who might be tempted to use this service to take back some of their time. Businesses have seen many time that branded apps, like those that integrate ecommerce software or other unique capabilities, often increase conversions and user interaction.

Leah Busque, founder and CEO of TaskRabbit had this to say about the service:

“People who use TaskRabbit are frequently on-the-go and don’t have a lot of free time to spare. While they don’t always have access to their computers, their iPhone and/ or iPod touch is inevitably with them as they go about their daily lives. With the TaskRabbit App, it was our goal to design an app that does not require the user to type a single word and we succeeded with capabilities such as voice recording and photo sharing. This makes engaging with the TaskRabbit service network much more convenient when using an iPhone or iPod touch.”

So with an app, integrated ecommerce solution for easy payment and price-setting, and an extensive vetting process (to help avoid any Airbnb-style catastrophes!), it looks like TaskRabbit is on its way to success. My only question is: when will it be in Seattle?

July 29, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

For those of us living life in four dimensions (time being the most often-overlooked dimension), buying 3D products may seem like a step backwards, but science and commerce have colluded to produce numerous 3D products for the unsuspecting masses to put in their shopping carts. If you too are intrigued by what the wonders of mulit-dimensional science have to offer you, then take a look at this quick run-down of great 3D products from Amazon.

First off is the top-selling 3D TV in Amazon’s roster, the Samsung UN55D8000. The fifty-five inch model was the best seller and it’s easy to see why. With 1080p HD resolution and two pairs of 3D glasses included, you are ready to rock and roll in 3D right out of the box. And it’s HUGE! That’s hard to beat.

Those of us who thought we could only afford two dimensions might want to put this next item into our shopping carts. VIZIO’s XVT3D474SV is less that half the cost of Samsung’s monster. While it does feature full LED backlighting, it’s only got a refresh rate of 480Hz. It makes up for this with the addition of built-in VIZIO apps.

If you decide to choose a Mitsubishi 3D TV, you’re going to need 3D glasses and maybe some other accessories in your shopping cart. Mitsubishi humbly offers you this “3D Starter Pack.” It includes 3D glasses, conversion cables, and even a disc of Disney 3D trailers so that you can see what all your hardware’s capabilities.

Whatever type of 3D TV you end up with (and Amazon has a ton to choose from), you will need to right glasses. The standard sets are usually fine, but the top-selling 3D glasses are Samsung SSG-3100GB 3D Active Glasses. Made especially for 2011 Samsung TV models, they are blazing a path for other 3D glasses. If you have a newer model Samsung 3D TV, then check these out. They might make the perfect addition to your shopping cart and your life.

An awesome 3D entertainment system is worthless without great stuff to play on it. While the Norse god of thunder is still rampaging his way through theaters in certain areas, you can beat the rush for this special Thor three-disc combo set by putting it into your shopping cart now! Including the Blu-Ray 3D and standard Blu-Ray versions, this bundle lets you see Chris Hemsworth in all his rock-hard chiseled glory.

Last but not least, 3D doesn’t have to be something you leave at home. You can even experience three dimensions when you are out experiencing the rest of the world. In the wake of sales numbers that didn’t quite live up to expectations, Nintendo has dropped the price of its latest portable gaming system, the Nintendo 3DS. Now available for $169 (almost $100 less than its original price) it’s a steal at this price! You can even get buy-one-get-one savings on select games.

July 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

A little over a month ago we reported on X.Commerce, a new ecommerce solution under development by eBay and PayPal. The story then was that they finally made an honest software company out of Magento by buying up the remaining outstanding shares of the company, of which it already owned 49% to begin with. The increased integration between the two units (eBay/PayPal and Magento) was part of their master plan to roll out a new, improved, utterly different ecommerce solution called X.Commerce.

Details were sketchy at the time, but CEO John Donahoe talked about how “Technology-driven innovation is blurring the lines between online and offline commerce, changing the way consumers shop…” X.Commerce is supposed to be a sort of “ecommerce OS,” giving individual users unprecedented control over the different features and capabilities of the system. These elements have been augmented by support from GSI Commerce, another big name in the world of ecommerce software.

With all the technological guns that eBay has in its belt, whatever form X.Commerce ultimately takes could possibly revolutionize the industry. They’ve just added another weapon to their technological arsenal in the form of a partnership with Kenshoo, an online marketing firm with a long reach.

Powered by funding from Sequoia Capital, Kenshoo blends online and offline selling and advertising abilities. They can pull inventory numbers from retailers, suggest SEO directions, and give businesses leads to pursue to increase conversions. Recently British retail giant Tesco reported an almost 50% reduction in their time spent on search engine marketing thanks to partnering with Kenshoo and their “Kenshoo Editor” software.

With all these unique factors combining together into one powerful system, fans of the newest ecommerce solutions will no doubt be clamoring for tickets to eBay’s “X.Commerce Innovate” conference in October.

July 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

“There’s an app for that.” That statement becomes truer every day. The latest ring of truth for this overused phrase comes in the form of HotelTonight’s popular hotel reservation app that went live for Android today. Available for the iPhone for months, and clocking in at over a half million downloads, the ecommerce software app is already going strong and helping people save money in almost 20 cities.

The way it works is simple and actually mirrors the increasingly popular “on demand” local deals ecommerce software setups of systems like Groupon Now! and others. Basically instead of booking a hotel ahead of time through a website like Travelocity or Expedia, you just head to your destination and start having a good time. When it’s starts getting late and you want somewhere to hang your hat, you whip out your smartphone, activate HotelTonight, and look for a cheap place to stay.

The way that old-school hotel reservation sites used to work was this: hotels had empty rooms that they knew they weren’t going to make any money off of, so they would sell them to the third party sites at a discount. Those sites would then do all the marketing and advertising (all those Shatner commercials) and try to drive customers to those discounted rooms.

HotelTonight shakes up this model. It works much like how Groupon Now! allows local businesses to drive targeted traffic through their doors during times when they need it most. Like let’s say a bar wants to draw in more customers on a slow Tuesday afternoon – they just put up a 2-for-1 beer deal on Groupon Now! and wait for the people to start rolling in. Hotels linked up the HotelTonight can decide to put their rooms up on the service for a significantly discounted rate if it looks like the room is going to go empty for the night – heck, even an extremely discounted room is better than having nobody in it at all.

The system only works with up to three hotels at a time, presumably to keep quality high and encourage hotels to compete with each other for the privilege of being listed on the service. I tried to find a more detailed explanation from HotelTonight, but none was readily apparent.

Additionally, while it’s not a last-minute accommodation solution, Airbnb has been competing well against hotels, routinely delivering higher-quality places to stay for significant price reductions. They just brought in another hefty investment round, but recent news that a houseguest went terribly wrong may damage their ability to compete.

July 28, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

The rise of streaming online sites like Hulu and Netflix has given viewers options that they’ve never had before. For the first time since the rise of TV and movies, users have had the ability to choose which media they wanted to watch and when, for free or for a low subscription rate. They could choose it quickly and easily, pipe it directly into their homes on their schedules, on a variety of devices (a far cry from the old days of Pay-Per-View movies where you had to fit your schedule to the movie company’s before you put it into your “shopping cart”).

Well the TV revolt’s most recent iteration involved viewers catching up on their favorite network shows the next day via Hulu. Fox is taking steps to prevent non-paying viewers from being able to watch right away, however. And we’re not just talking about users who’ve put “Hulu Plus” into their online shopping carts and started paying the $7.99/month. Fox only wants paying Hulu Plus subscribers and people who pay for Fox any other way (Direct TV, etc.) to “authenticate” their paid subscription before viewing their desired content the next day. Everyone else will have to wait eight days.

Increasingly we’re seeing previously free online services disappearing behind pay walls. Fox’s plan, while it stings for people without cable service, makes some sense. There’s a whole generation cropping up these days with no TVs or at least no cable TV service – just cable internet! People complaining about it earnestly probably don’t know how good they had it for so long. Complaints about other pay walls, like the NYTimes, speak to the same overly-entitled mentality: people expect stuff for free if it’s online – no matter how much it costs to make that content.

The NYTimes paywall has a variety of shortcomings. For starters, it’s not absolute. Readers get their first 20 articles every month for free, then the site asks them to put some kind of subscription package into their shopping cart and actually pay money. There are several exceptions to this rule, one being that if you receive any printed edition of the paper (even just Saturday/Sunday), then you get free open access.

So in a lot of ways, Fox’s move to restrict users is similar to major paywalls already in effect elsewhere. If you didn’t pay to help make the content, then you have to wait a little longer to watch it. Some could argue that the advertisements on sites like Hulu is a form of revenue for networks like Fox, but that’s a newer model and much less trusted by the old media giants who still walk the earth, and every so often have to remind us to fear them.

July 27, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

WhiteHat Security, a leading online security firm specializing in ecommerce solutions, financial institutions, and healthcare outfits has announced that they’ve raised eight million dollars in investment funding from Investor Growth Capital (IGC). IGC specializes in growing organizations organically from the inside out, giving them the capital and guidance that they need to reach the next level.

WhiteHat CEO Stephanie Fohn said this of the deal:

“We are pleased to bring on board a long-term focused, growth investor with years of experience backing high-growth software and technology firms. For WhiteHat Security, this investment is the right step to fuel our growth as the Web security market expands and is a great validation of our industry-leading work.”

Online security is a major issue for anyone with an online presence. Ecommerce solutions want their consumers to know that they can shop with confidence. Financial institutions need their clients’ information and holdings to stay safe. Healthcare organizations have massive amounts of very sensitive information that they can’t afford to lose. Still reeling from the onslaughts unleashed on Sony and others by hackers only weeks ago, many industries are wondering “Could I be next?”

IGC’s Brian Mulvey, a VP, echoed these sentiments:

“Web security is suddenly top of mind for every CEO in the country — in reality the threat has been growing for years. WhiteHat’s leadership team recognized this early on and has been out in front of the market. The company has shown that their vision for Web security is the only scalable way for companies to manage these threats and WhiteHat is ideally positioned to lead the next generation of security companies. We are very enthusiastic to be leading this new round of funding.”

When choosing an ecommerce solution or shopping cart software for your business, no matter how large or small it is, safety and security are factors. You might not be able to hire a large scale security firm like WhiteHat, but you can find many great ecommerce solutions with security features that will allow your shoppers to make purchases with confidence, knowing that they will be free from fraudulent charges and other types of cybercrime.

July 27, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team

In the wake of Netflix’s gutsy decision to increase the prices on their streaming movies plus DVDs-by-mail combo package, their stock is down and a new contender has entered the ring (but will you be putting their digital movies into your shopping cart?). About two weeks ago Netflix, obviously still dealing with the logistics and added costs of physically shipping discs through the mail decided that if their subscribers were so married to the idea of getting DVDs in the mail, that they should be willing to pay a little extra cash every month for the privilege.

That being said, they bumped up the monthly cost for these services from $10 for unlimited streaming with DVDs to $8 for unlimited streaming and/or $8 for DVDs by mail. The result? A six dollar hike in overall price for past subscribers who had the combo package. No change for people who just had streaming, And a whole lot of abuse hurled at Netflix.

Facebook and Twitter exploded with rage, as they are wont to do when catastrophic news like this occurs. Many people claimed that this was the beginning of the end for Netflix, that the service was going downhill, and that they would be quitting forever. Some of them obviously made good on their promises, as cancellations are up and stock prices are down. Netflix took a ten percent hit in the stock market. Despite that fact, CEO Reed Hastings seemed upbeat and confident during a recent earnings call:

“We tried to be as straightforward as we could, and that has worked out very well for us. In terms of the customer support line, it was a very short amount of time that it exceeded our capacity there. And now, our service levels have returned to our normal great service levels.”

Walmart might have smelt some blood in the water, however, choosing this week to accent their newly Walmart-branded “Vudu” service. Having acquired the online streaming company some months ago, they made it official by slapping the Walmart name over everything and giving it plenty of social media attention. It’s not a Netflix-killer, though. Instead of operating on subscriptions, it uses an online shopping cart to manage movies.

The Walmart system features different tiers of movies, available for different periods of time. Users browse the list, choose their movies, and put them in an online shopping cart, right there inside of the Walmart ecommerce solution. At prices ranging from $2 to $6 depending on the release date and how long you want it, the model leaves a lot to be desired. The major selling point could be the availability of new releases, which is something that Netflix struggled with as well. Between Hulu, Apple TV, Netflix, Amazon Prime, and now Walmart, online movie watchers have a ton of options, but none to rule the all.