So you’re on your way to pick up some pizza and stock up on rental flicks for the weekend. You go to pick up your four extra large cheeses, suddenly your phone’s going off, and you immediately identify the ring tone. It’s your grandma! You can’t imagine not answering it, because I mean, it’s your grandma for crying out loud. So you go to answer it, while you’re juggling your pizzas, and suddenly you drop your phone in a puddle of water. Then some jackass runs over it in the parking lot. Your warranty has expired. Oh no! You think to yourself, “Well, I still need to get those movies, hrmm… I know! I’ll just buy a phone at Blockbuster!” How convenient.
That’s right folks. Everyone’s favorite video rental chain, Blockbuster, has now begun to sell phones. First through its website, and now according to two anonymous sources, the “Blockbuster Mobile” effort will soon take effect in its 800 plus retail locations. Blockbuster and its parent company Dish Network have partnered with the likes of Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. How did all of this come into play exactly?
Dish had bought out Blockbuster in 2011 after dealing with bankruptcy. Roughly half of its 1700 locations were shut down, due to the recent rise of services such as Netflix and Red Box. There are also talks of Dish acquiring its own wireless service as well, bringing them against other fierce competitors like AT&T. The Federal Communications Commission has been keeping Dish waiting, on how they can utilize their acquired airwaves. (Bloomberg)
So next time you go rent a movie from a retail store (people still do that?), be on the lookout for some phones. Maybe one day they will rent the phones out too. Before you know it, there will be phone vending machines popping up next to every gas station. Until then, when picking up pizza, and answering phone calls from grandma, keep your phones safe around water… or just use your phone to order delivery.