Quick-service restaurants could be one of the distribution points for a new mobile digital entertainment content industry envisioned by a partnership made up of foodservice and hospitality technology supplier NCR Corp., as well as Toshiba Corp. and content-distribution specialist MOD Systems.
NCR of Dayton, Ohio, and Tokyo-based Toshiba, with U.S. headquarters in New York, have agreed to invest $35 million in Seattle-based MOD Systems for a minority stake in the company that wants to outfit retailers with a digital media system from which consumers can load copy-protected entertainment content onto portable devices and storage media or burn to CDs or DVDs. MOD announced the investment and said that in addition to music, about 4,000 video titles from major or independent studios will be available at the launch of the service, the timeline for which was not included in the partnership announcement.
According to the partners, the initiative will permit consumers to download digital content to secure digital, or SD, cards and portable devices such as mobile phones through kiosks and other self-service devices. Those devices will be deployed, integrated and maintained by NCR at retail stores, airports, quick-service restaurants and other outlets. Toshiba said it will develop dedicated set-top boxes for the service and develop and market high-capacity SD cards for the system, improving the speed of downloads in the future.
