Posted Thu Jul 8, 2010 at 11:00 AM PDT by Dick Ward
Over 500 kiosks will be erected in nine different states.
Blockbuster has been struggling to compete in the video rental marketplace for a few years now, and they only just avoided bankruptcy this year. They've got to do something big if they hope to survive. The plan, as it stands, is to fight Redbox on its own turf.
A total of 555 Blockbuster kiosks will be hitting QuickTrip stores across the US. That's a nice increase to the already existing 4,500 kiosks in operation now. According to analyst Michael Pachter of Wedbush Morgan though, it's not enough.
He says that the addition of Blockbuster kiosks may actually cause more harm than good. "By putting kiosks in," says Pachter, "all it does is to help them cannibalize their own business."
The $1 billion kiosk rental market is currently topped by Redbox, who holds 80 percent. It's a nice new market to get into, but whether Blockbuster can make a dent is anybody's guess.
See what people are saying about this story in our forums area, or check out other recent discussions.
The latest news on all things 4K Ultra HD, blu-ray and Gear.