If you thought Coinstar was through making industry rattling announcements today, you were wrong. After taking the wraps off its joint venture with Verizon, now the company has announced it’ll be taking over NCR’s entertainment division for 0 million. That includes DVD kiosks, retailer contracts and an inventory of discs for stocking the machines. That’s big news not only cause it expands Redbox’s already sizable self-serve rental empire, but because it may be doing so at the expense of the floundering Blockbuster since NCR has been responsible for distributing and running the blue and yellow rental kiosks. How exactly this will impact existing Blockbuster Express installations is unclear, but we can’t imagine the news is good. For a few more details about the deal check out the PR after the break.

Continue reading Redbox snatches up NCR’s entertainment division, future of Blockbuster kiosks unclear

Redbox snatches up NCR’s entertainment division, future of Blockbuster kiosks unclear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon and Redbox are creating a joint venture to provide movies on demand using the web as well as Redbox’s physical DVD rental kiosks around the country. The deal is seen as a blow against Netflix, which offers a DVD-by-mail and a streaming service, but it’s also a chance for Verizon to make money from streaming content and show off how awesome its fiber network is.

Details around the deal are limited, but here is what we know.

1. Verizon will own 65 percent of the joint venture while Coinstar, Redbox’s parent company, will own 35 percent.
2. The service will offer something Netflix currently doesn’t — a download option, which makes it more competitive with Amazon’s video offerings.
3. The offering will be available nationwide, not merely to Verizon customers.
4. Using Redbox helps the joint venture get access to new releases as content companies are trying to add more “windows” to the movie release process. Windowing is what content companies use to spread out the time between a movie released in theaters, when it hits rentals stores and when it makes its way to other services such as premium TV channels. The general thinking is this increases profits for each movie, but opinion is divided on that, and consumers hate it.
5. Verizon is counting on its existing relationship as a pay TV provider to get more content to the joint venture.
6. Whatever the end product looks like, it will launch in the second half of this year.

Given these facts, as scant as they are, it’s easy to see the threat to Netflix, as people could view the two offerings as fairly interchangeable as long as the pricing is competitive and the content is relatively equal. But without knowing about pricing or the content, the deal still has the potential to be a win for Verizon, given video is huge bandwidth suck on wireline and wireless networks. Netflix traffic was estimated to take up 20 percent of U.S. broadband traffic during peak hours according to Sandvine in the fall of 2010.

For Verizon, a streaming joint venture has three benefits. One, if it makes money from the service, that’s an additional revenue stream as well as a way to capture some value from its customers who cut the cord. Two, if the service can really deliver a video product that consumers love and will use, it will help drive traffic across Verizon’s networks. Customers in the FiOS areas will have a reason to sign up for the service if they haven’t already, while the joint venture will help drive traffic to mobile devices and other areas of the country. Verizon has a business selling bandwidth on 100 gigabit per second backbone pipes as well as leasing its fiber to cell phone providers to use as mobile backhaul.

Finally the joint venture gives Verizon a seat at the table with content companies as the industry tries to find new economic models based on the reality of an IP infrastructure that can deliver any content to anyone, anywhere. Sure, content companies are fighting the future with windowing and complicated rights agreements, while ISPs are trying to protect their business with broadband caps, but the future is coming, and Verizon is trying to get in on the ground floor rather than watch it pass it by.

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Let’s just get this out of the way, shall we? If the LG Spectrum looks familiar, you’re not imagining things. It may have been a highlight at the company’s CES press event last month, but the handset bears more than a passing resemblance to its older, more excitingly-named sibling, the LG Nitro HD — and, by extension, the globe-trotting Optimus LTE. Beneath their 4.5-inch IPS displays, you’ll find virtually identical guts, including a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1,830mAh battery and 4GB of internal storage, coupled with a 16GB microSD. There are some important distinctions here, of course — namely, changes to the phone’s shell and, of course, a shift from AT&T to Verizon. So, how does world-weary Optimus fare from its jump to Big Red? Find the answer past the break.

Continue reading LG Spectrum review

LG Spectrum review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Karaoke has a new best friend, and its name is LTE. At CES, TouchTunes and Verizon Wireless unveiled its new digital jukebox with a networked Karaoke feature, allowing bar and restaurant patrons to not only pull their favorite songs out of the airwaves but sing along to them as well. No DJ necessary – you reserve your performance slots and pick your songs on a smartphone app, adding another mobile element to the mix. Verizon is not responsible for the heckling you receive when you miss the high notes (or the low and middle ones, for that matter).

Verizon had a few new LTE smartphones to show off at CES, but at the show it seemed absolutely determined to inset its new network’s tendrils into as many non-phone devices as possible. We already know about the connected car, but here are a few of the more interesting examples:

• Diebold showed off a concept ATM, which uses 4G connectivity not only to authorize transactions, but send detailed diagnostic and trouble reports to the companies that maintain the cash machines. The enhanced connection even allows those companies to fix non-mechanical problems remotely. The ATM could be stuck anywhere, requiring only a power source to operate and it could even call security if a suspicious character starts fiddling with it. Now if only Verizon could figure out a way to send the actual cash over the airwaves…
• In addition to the Karaoke jukebox, TouchTunes showed off its forthcoming LTE-connected photo booth, which not only allows you to capture your evening of drunken debauchery in still images, but also instantly share those images on Facebook and Twitter before the inevitable feelings of shame kick in.
• Alcatel-Lucent’s ng Connect and VisionMax demoed an LTE-connected shopping kiosk that will use near-field communications to pull up a 3D avatar loaded into your phone. You can then dress that avatar up in the different outfits and accessories available at that store. Assuming the avatar is a reasonable facsimile of your body type – sorry, no centaurs – you could get a general idea of what you would look like in the store’s clothes without actually trying them on. You can even use Vidyo’s HD video conferencing technology to connect to on-call fashion consultant who will praise you on your impeccable fashion sense.
• Verizon even embedded LTE into a VGo robots, allowing its booth workers to talk up CES attendees remotely using VGo’s remote telepresence capabilities. Many of the robotic assistants available today link to the network through Wi-Fi, which works great if you happen to be in range of an access point. Verizon is betting that these remote physical avatars will want a broader range. Maybe they won’t go to lunch with the boss, but they can at least make it to the water cooler for office chit chat.

Microphone image courtesy of Flickr user LifeSupercharger
Avatar image courtesy of Flickr user Winter Jefferson

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That didn’t take long. A day after Verizon confirmed it was going to charge for single credit and debit card payments online and over the phone, it backed down following a chorus of complaints online. This Internet thing works, apparently.

Verizon originally framed the convenience fee as a way to cover costs for single payments. It was supposed to go into effect on Jan. 15. But many, including my colleague Kevin Fitchard, saw the fee as a way to direct people to pay bills through their preferred channels including AutoPay, which is one of a number of payment methods that would not require a fee.

“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers. Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless.

Verizon may have been motivated by news that the Federal Communications Commission was also looking into the fee. “On behalf of American consumers, we’re concerned about Verizon’s actions and are looking into the matter,” the FCC said just hours before Verizon reversed course.

Verizon already has to deal with questions about recent LTE outages. And the fact that it was introducing a new fee that seemed to penalize its own customers did not go over well with consumers, some of whom brought up comparisons to Bank of America’s failed debit card fee.

It’s nice to see that Verizon was listening to consumers and reacted quickly to its overreach. But it should have known that a fee like this wouldn’t have gone over well. Score another one for the Internet.

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Happy The Engadget Podcast New Year’s, everybody! You know what to do. Don’t forget to date your checks right.

Host: Brian Heater
Guests: Richard Lawler, Terrence O’Brien
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: We Found Love

04:47 – Verizon experiencing nationwide data outage? (update: Verizon confirms)
09:00 – Verizon confirms latest LTE outage restored, again claims 3G operated normally
12:28 – Toshiba Thrive 7″ review
21:10 – Tech’s biggest misfires of 2011

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Engadget Podcast 270 – 12.30.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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