11/08/2007, 3:20pm, EST
Thursday, November 8thBlockbuster mulls download stations to beat iTunes
Blockbuster is considering opening download stations as a way of shoring up its failing rental business, according to company chief Jim Keyes. The executive says that the company will launch an experiment which brings kiosks which could download movies directly to a portable media player, bypassing the need for a DVD or for transferring videos from a computer. The stations will appear at Blockbuster's own stores and may also branch out into malls and other areas where the chain typically does not operate.
The video formats and price strategy for movies offered this way have not been revealed, though Blockbuster intends to roll out test versions "aggressively" by early 2008, Keyes says. Other digital options being considered to revitalize the business include integrating Blockbuster's MovieLink direct-download movie service with Blockbuster and offering other digital services in the physical stores, such as an interactive children area or PlayStation 3 demo booths.
The effort has been characterized as an attempt to fend off both online services that mail video rentals, such as Netflix, as well as stores that offer both permanent and rental downloads, such as Apple's iTunes Store or Amazon Unbox. The relatively high price of physical copies of movies and limitations in stock have reportedly driven customers to Blockbuster's competitors.
Keyes specifically holds up Apple as an example of how to make the most of retail space. Though he does not draw a direct connection between Apple's portable music player business and video rentals, he explains that the willingness to try a significantly approach to retail outlets could prove useful for Blockbuster, which has typically been conservative.
"I get excited about what we could do with what is some of the most choice real estate," he claims.
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What a stupid premise that they are losing business due to Apple. Their customers are the "bird in hand" and the are not being nice to them.
I cannot even conceive that iTunes is a competitor to Blockbuster's DVD rental business.
What I do not like about Blockbuster is it keeps changing it's offerings without giving users sufficient notice. For instance, up until recently you could exchange any amount of movies you had in store. Now it is only up to three a month, and Blockbuster didn't tell anybody about the change. So I drove all the way to the store only to be told I was over my limit. Moreover, the time frame doesn't go by your billing date, but by the actual month.
I use to use Netflix, but I found it was slow to ship me movies. I also do not like that Mac users have to pay the same price for the service, but cannot easily download content.
I also think the download kiosks are a dumb idea. I will download from my computer, but not a kiosk. Blockbuster should have invested in those DVD rental machines you see popping up all over the place. A while back, I heard Blockbuster was trying to work out a deal with Apple where people can download content in Blockbuster stores to their iPods. Not sure why Apple would be opposed to that. It hardly makes any money on movie downloads, and this would further cement its dominance in the music player arena.