Walmart has conceded the mail-in DVD rental business to Netflix. Walmart’s initial entry to the marketspace had created a lot of concern that Netflix end was near. After 2.5 years and large scale attempted predatory pricing by Walmart, Netflix stands while Walmart takes down their tent.

The concern for Netflix is “In what timeframe can this mail-in media (DVD or anything else) business segment survive?” Most persons believe that at some point in the future all content (Music, Images, Video, etc.) will all come streaming (wired or wireless) based on some license model if the consumer does not already have the content cached or stored at their end. How is Netflix going to leverage itself in the middle of the transaction between consumer and content IP owner? Netflix proficency is in logistics. They are working on some nice things in personalization and community (i.e. Friends Network) Unless Netflix can build real value in the next few years around it’s community it may find it’s just following in Walmart’s lead today.

Let’s hope Netflix is up to the task.