Why Redbox should buy Qwixter

Notgruntled - Why Redbox should buy Qwixter

Andy

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Why Redbox should buy Qwixter	[Sep. 22nd, 2011\|03:00 am]
In spinning off its DVD delivery business, Netflix is clearly betting on the decline of DVDs. It's hard to argue against that long arc of the technological universe, but it's going to be a long time before everyone has broadband with sufficient speed and high enough caps to make streaming or downloading attractive. Rights-holders also make streaming a fragmented mess, with movies and TV shows split between Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, iTunes, and cable company and satellite pay-per-view. Blockbuster was killed by a convergence of forces -- Netflix and other streaming sites among the technorati, Netflix DVD delivery for the cinephile set looking for obscure films, Redbox at the other end of the technological and pop-culture spectrum. No doubt the woes of the USPS, and the likelihood of less frequent deliveries and higher postage in the future, weighed in the decision as well. So what if you could merge the convenience of Redbox with the depth of Qwixter? Picture this: You put a movie at the top of your queue. If your movie is at a nearby Redbox kiosk, the site tells you where, and you reserve it; if not, you specify where you want it sent, and you get a notification when it's there. When you return your movie, you can opt to snag one of the unreserved movies at the kiosk or wait for the next movie in your queue to be sent (or both, if you have a >1 disk at a time plan). The only question I can't find an answer to is how often Redbox re-stocks its kiosks. If it's daily, or even every other day, then the distribution mechanism is in place to make it at worst a little bit slower than Qwixter. There's also the Jetsons solution, with movies deliverable in hours instead of days: Outfit Redbox kiosks with a DVD burner that dispenses self-destructing Flexplay discs.
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Comments:

From:

pasketti
2011-09-22 12:35 pm (UTC)

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I think Rebox should equip their kiosks with DVD burners. When you want a movie that's not in stock, it downloads an image, burns it, and notifies you when it's ready. The rights-holders would never stand for that, though.

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From:

notgruntled
2011-09-23 12:08 am (UTC)

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That's what I had in mind with Flexplay, except you wouldn't have to return the disc. There is something to be said for burning persistent discs, though -- its a good way of ensuring that the supply of a given movie in a given area meets the demand.

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