Apple Inc and Netflix Inc announced the release of a new mobile application this summer.
During an Apple conference, Netflix unveiled the collaboration ahead of Apple’s debut of the company’s iPhone 4, the latest smart phone in Apple’s popular line of handheld devices.
Once news of the announcement hit Wall Street, Netflix stock shares rose 2.5 percent and settled at $110.14.
Netflix is the leading company in the expanding online movie rental market and said the application will be free for iPhone users to download.
“With the success of the iPhone, everyone wants to be a part of it. Netflix had to do it,” said Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Edward Woo.
While the application is a positive for Netflix shareholders, Woo added the new mobile service would not supplant the current style of Netflix subscription, renting movies designed for computers and HD media.
“The iPhone screens are too small. I don’t think there will be a mass adoption,” he added.
Monday Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs will speak in San Francisco at his company’s conference and present the fourth-generation iPhone.
While the iPhone is not expected to sport many substantial leaps of technology, some improvements to the device will be an upgraded processor and operating system, larger screen and an upgrade to a front-facing camera, useful for video conference calls.
The iPhone originally hit the market in 2007 and put Apple at the head of the pack in the mobile technology industry.
