self-serve
Click Flick H
Digiboo kiosk delivers entertainment on the go.
Kristin Larson Contino
oping to replicate the success of home entertainment kiosks like Redbox, Digiboo is bringing movies
and television episodes to consumers on the go. The company’s kiosks, which offer instant downloads of films and TV programs, are currently installed at a few airports and test locations in malls and coffee shops. Digiboo was founded by a group of
former entertainment industry executives including Richard Cohen, former MGM Home Entertainment and Consumer Products president, Jeff Karbowiak, Executive Vice President of MGM’s Home Entertainment Group, David Beddow, Chief Technology Officer at Movielink, and Blake Thomas, General Manager of MGM Home Entertainment. “All of us had worked in home entertainment and in the
early digital area, those of us in charge of studio licensing heard every sort of wacky idea about getting movies to people on the go,” says Thomas, Digiboo’s chief marketing officer. “The technology was no good and it was difficult for consumers to execute.”
done seamlessly and easily and in a way that worked for our customers,” Thomas says.
How it works The Digiboo kiosk offers about 800 movies and 200 TV episodes to download, with expanded TV offerings now in the works. The touch-screen interface changes every week to show the new titles available. All the movies are stored
on hard drives in the kiosk, which means it can never run out of a movie—like competitors’ kiosks can—and there is nothing to return since the program is downloaded straight to the customer’s digital device. Movies cost $14.99 to purchase. New movies are $3.99 to
rent and older movies are $2.99 to rent. TV episodes can only be purchased for $1.99, not rented. Customers have 30 days to begin watching a movie rental and once they do, have 48 hours to finish before the download expires. Once the customer chooses a film and makes a credit card
payment, the TV episode or movie can be downloaded either wirelessly or by inserting a USB into the machine. Downloading takes anywhere from 30 seconds to five minutes, depending on the method used and type of device, i.e.; phone, computer or tablet. If customers have a problem with the download process,
there’s an email and toll-free number on the kiosk for customer service plus a live chat feature on the website. “Our priority is making sure our customers are happy, and our agents are trained to walk them through the download or to give a refund immediately—sometimes both,” Thomas says. Digiboo is planning to expand outside of airports. Spots
Cohen and Karbowiak eventually took over a startup called TNR, a competitor to Redbox. The company has since gone away, but in their capacity at TNR the pair heard more ideas from people who wanted to download digital movies from kiosks. Digiboo launched officially in May 2012 and has seen thousands of downloads from the 35 to 40 kiosks currently in the market. “The technology got to the point where it could be
with heavy concentrations of travelers and college student populations, will be another focus.
Kristin Larson Contino is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia. She writes for a variety of print and online publications and also covers women’s fiction for
Examiner.com.
For more information, please visit
digiboo.com. For an extended version of this story, please visit
specialtyretail.com.
44
Specialty Retail Report n Winter 2013
SpecialtyRetail.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132