Now how's that for responsiveness? In a statement released early this morning, Netflix's CEO, Reed Hastings, announced that the company will not be splitting the service into two after all.  Apparently, customer backlash to the plan was significant (and mostly negative).  Due to this response, Netflix decided to not tinker further with its working business model and keep the DVD-by-mail and streaming businesses consolidated in one platform as "Netflix." 

As a consumer, I am pleased with this decision.  As you will know from my earlier blog post on this topic, as a longtime customer I was not happy with the potential split in my service.  And, as an industry observer, I'm impressed.  It seems almost too obvious to repeat here, but one of the keys to a successful business is understanding what your customers want and reacting appropriately.  This type of response indicates that Netflix is listening to its subscribers and that it cares about what they want.  I can't say the same thing for every company.