DVD Kiosk Information

Will Blockbuster Deploy Rental Kiosks In Their Own Stores?

I have long wondered if Blockbuster will bring Blockbuster Express Kiosks into their stores. I actually created this draft for a story July 3rd of 2009 but didn’t really have any content. But with the rollout this week of the SD downloadable kiosks, Blockbuster Express in a Blockbuster store is exactly what seems to be happening. As Blockbuster closes stores rapidly, they are actually turning their efforts back to their kiosks to keep the company alive. Primarily the DVD kiosks are finding themselves in places where people frequent on a regular basis other than a video rental store; grocery stores, convenience stores, dollar stores (which are seeing a huge climb this year due to the economic situation), and even fast food restaurants. People have to make a specific trip to go to a Blockbuster location both for rental and return. It is very common for there to be a Blockbuster Express kiosk in a store within the same complex where a brick-and-mortar store is. It seems like 30% of all the Publix stores out there where kiosks are have a Blockbuster in the same parking lot! But if you are like me, if I did walk into a Blockbuster store I’d just as soon deal with a kiosk there than deal with the people working there. But from a company perspective, there is no reason to use a kiosk inside a brick-and-mortar store. You have significant expenses in that brick-and-mortar store. But that all just changed. Now we have the pilot program of the downloadable content kiosks. Because these require a little more than you can do at a simple kiosk, namely checkout of a hardware device, they are being placed in the Blockbuster locations. Right now, when you download content, it cannot be played back with many devices (as far as anyone knows, only one device at the moment). So the stores are providing a device that goes along with your downloadable content that you can hook up to your TV and watch. We can presume that there will be some way to move the content later so that it can be played on the devices that people actually have. For myself, that would be an iPhone, AppleTV, or the Roku player. So I wonder if DVD rental will also be something you can do at the kiosk and how that will affect the store sales. Leave me your thoughts and comments.

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NCR and MOD Systems Debut Downloadable Kiosks

NCR Corp. is pilot testing a new model of its Blockbuster Express-branded movie-rental kiosks that allow patrons to download a movie to a secure digital (SD) memory card. No details have been given yet about what devices the video can be played back on. Samsung and others have announced or released TV sets that have SD card slots which presumably would play the content. Several Inside BlockBuster Express members have emailed or posted wondering whether the content will play on their portable devices. At this point, I haven’t had anyone run into one of these kiosks to determine that answer. If you know of one and can test, please let us know! The announcement says that the pilot test machines operated by NCR in conjunction with MOD Systems are located in select Blockbuster locations and other retail stores. NCR has said before that it strongly believes in the digital download model. Its existing Blockbuster Express kiosks are “digital download ready” and NCR plans to rapidly expand use of the technology through its existing kiosk base. Rentals from the digital download kiosks will be tested at various prices. Similar to rental practices on Cable Pay-per-View and iTunes rentals, consumers will have 30 days from purchase to watch the movie. Once they begin viewing it, they have 48 hours to finish watching it before digital rights management technology automatically locks the content to prevent further viewing.

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NCR VP Alex Camara Talks About Blockbuster Express and the DVD Kiosk Industry

Alex Camara, who left Redbox parent company Coinstar and joined NCR in June 2009 as the VP and General Manager of the Entertainment division, knows the DVD kiosk industry well. He sat down with Danny King over at Video Business for an interview. You can find the full text at Video Business Online . In the interview he tries to distinguish how Blockbuster Express is and will be different from Redbox. By having double the capacity and by working on a future with digital downloads they hope to differentiate themselves. He also states his understanding that consumers expect them to provide new release movies on the release date but that they must work hand-in-hand with the studios to make that happen. He believes that the DVD Kiosk marketplace has not stolen from the home entertainment pie but has, in fact, grown it. Check out the full interview at Video Business .

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Blockbuster to deliver movies on Motorola mobile phones

In an effort to keep up with where Apple has taken the iPhone model and Netflix is delivering streaming movies, Blockbuster has inked a deal with Motorola, Inc. that has Blockbuster integrating its OnDemand application with various models of cellphones and other handheld devices. It has not been announced when the service will be available or on what devices it will be supported. But Blockbuster senior vice president of digital entertainment Kevin Lewis said, “The integration of our OnDemand service into Motorola’s mobile phones will provide access to thousands of movies from the moment someone initiates their service.” Blockbuster’s OnDemand service, which charges rental fees of up to $3 per movie download or sells movies from $9.99 to $20, gives users on-screen search and browsing capabilities and additional content such as ratings and trailers. This is very similar to what Apple’s iTunes store does for users of the iPhone. Blockbuster’s senior vice president of digital entertainment Kevin Lewis also stated, “People are increasingly relying on their mobile phones to stay connected to the things they love the most, including their favorite movies and TV shows.” Other details released say that the upcoming application will also be able to choose films for home delivery or reserve titles for in-store pickup. At the moment it doesn’t say anything to link it to Blockbuster Express kiosks. Motorola is desperately trying to regain handset market share. Once the top dog in the market, it has lost that appeal to Apple and others who are designing more smartphones and mobile computer handsets. Motorola has also signed on to deliver Android phones. Perhaps the Blockbuster app is a part of that strategy. But with the iPhone, its YouTube browser, and the iTunes and App stores so firmly entrenched, they will have a huge uphill battle. It would be easier for Blockbuster to enable an App on the iPhone which has the market share than to exclusively try to provide this service on Motorola handsets. And with the rumor that Netflix is polishing up its streaming player app for the iPhone for release, they better get cracking!

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