Apple is no longer the dominant player when it comes to the US online movie business. According to a new report by market research firm IHS iSuppli, Netflix was crowned the new king in 2011 after a meteoric rise in popularity throughout 2010. The firm credits Netflix's success with its focus on TV-like subscriptions, which it sees as superior to the company's DVD mail service or iTunes' more traditional video on demand (VOD) model.

According to IHS' numbers, Netflix's share of the online movie market jumped from a mere 0.5 percent in 2010 to 44 percent in 2011. Comparatively, Apple fell from 60.8 percent in 2010 to just 32.3 percent in 2011. The number three player, Microsoft, also fell between 2010 and 2011—from 16.7 percent to 7.6 percent. The only other company in the IHS ranking that grew year over year was Vudu (owned by Walmart), which went from 2.7 percent in 2010 to 4.2 percent in 2011.

The market itself expanded during that time—in fact, it more than doubled to $992 million in 2011, and is expected to double again for 2012. This was apparently thanks to huge growth in subscription video on demand (SVOD) services, which is what IHS categorizes Netflix as, and has played into Netflix's success over the last couple years. Not only did Netflix bump its prices for video streaming during that time, it also made numerous deals with companies like Apple, Microsoft, Roku, and others to be included on their set-top boxes. As such, Netflix was suddenly everywhere in 2011, which boosted its popularity.

One thing IHS points out is that SVOD services like Netflix tend to carry older movies while VOD services like iTunes focus more on new releases. “Effectively the market has split,” IHS Director Dan Cryan said in a statement. “Netflix and Apple are competing for some of the same consumer time and money. However, the core value proposition of the two services is actually very different.”