At least it is a step away from dvd’s in a store. That being said, it is far from an answer to what ails the company.
Dan Frommer had a great review of Blockbuster’s (BBI) product:
“Then will it fix Blockbuster’s problems? No.
Why not? Because there are very few use cases for a kiosk that rapidly transfers a digital movie to your iPod. It might make sense at the airport, where you can quickly grab a few movies before a long flight. But beyond that, it will rarely be the most convenient way to obtain digital media.
At home, an over-the-Internet movie download like Apple’s (AAPL) iTunes, Amazon’s (AMZN) Unbox, or Netflix’s (NFLX) streaming service makes much more sense — especially if there’s a way to play the movie on your TV. Why would you drive to Blockbuster — or anywhere — to download a movie to watch at home when you could do it from your living room?
And on the go, we imagine that over-the-air movie/TV services will develop/mature just as quickly as Blockbuster’s kiosks. So they won’t help much there, either.”
The key here is is still requires me to go somewhere to get a movie. While admittedly it will be great for travel locations, other than that, its use is limited.
The kiosk prototype, which will begin testing within the next three weeks, was developed by NCR Corp. (NCR). For the pilot launch, the kiosks will be compatible only with an Archos portable device. Blockbuster said it plans for the kiosk to be an “open system” and widely compatible with a range of devices. If it does not work with Apple’s (AAPL) ipod, it will fail. Folks will not go out and buy another device for this.
Blockbuster’s real and lingering problem is its core business, the DVD. Check out this interview with NetFlix (NFLX) CEO Reed Hastings about the new video streaming product.
Netflix is moving on full force into the future, Blockbuster, dipping its toes in the water..still
Disclosure (“none” means no position):None
