How would you like to step up to an ATM-like kiosk, swipe a card, and rent a DVD movie, before returning it by mail a la Netflix? If Eduardo Alvarez has his way, you'll be able to soon enough.
Alvarez's Boomerang Movies is working on a kiosk to yield any of the top 40 most-popular new DVD film releases at the swipe of your credit card, for a $4.59 three-day rental or an option to buy the disc for its full price, minus the rental fee.
The first such kiosks, according to a published report, will go up this month in Mexico City department store Sanborns, and Alvarez has a vision of such kiosks becoming hits in gas stations, convenience stores, airports, and supermarkets. Regarding the latter, he's expected to bring a Boomerang kiosk to Roche Bros. Supermarkets around Boston.
''Netflix is not spontaneous enough," he told the Boston Globe about the popular, pioneering rent-by-mail service. "In our focus groups, 96 percent of people who rent said it was a spontaneous decision."
Noted product development firm IDEO helped Alvarez design the kiosks in exchange for a stake in the startup, unusual practice for the company. But while Alvarez may see Boomerang DVD rental kiosks as a refueling station for digital entertainment, others are not necessarily optimistic. Aside from the expense of building the kiosk machines and the cost of renting, the Nokia experience – they tried and failed to launch an automatic digital music teller – remains in mind for some analysts.
And never discount the competition factor. DVDPlay has a deal with McDonalds to install Boomerang-like kiosks in the restaurant's parking lots, Albertson supermarkets, and college campuses, the Globe said, while Logimatiq of France makes kiosks that rent DVD and VHS tapes, though they require you to return what you rent to the kiosk rather than mailing it back.
