Cinema chain to stream new video releases

In another sign that the film industry is rapidly changing, Australian cinema chain Hoyts says it will launch its own video-on-demand streaming service in the first quarter of 2013.

Dubbed Hoyts Stream, the new service will support multi-device access and offer viewers a pay-as-you-go model for new movie release as well as classic films and traditional TV content from all over Australia.

Hoyts Stream will introduce an 'all-you-can eat' subscription model, specifically for movie and TV classics later in the year which will take on established rivals such as QuickFlix, Big Pond Movies and FetchTV.

Hoyts Chairman David Kirk said that the goal is to create a market leading digital movie streaming business, which leverages and easily integrates with Hoyts’ existing system.

The entertainment group has been experimenting with new modes of movie and content distribution and watching some international moves.

Three years ago, Hoyts acquired DVD vending machine outfit Ovie which will now be re-branded Hoyts Kiosk and integrated into the new video streaming service offering downloads in addition to physical products.


The kiosk business model boasts about 729,600 customers since the launch and currently maintains approximately 200,000 active customers overall.

In August, Sainsbury’s signed an agreement with Rovi in the United Kingdom to launch an online streaming platform for film and TV content via kiosks across its 1,000 retail outlets.

Kirk said his company understood that digital was driving a demand for more choices in how they want their movie experience delivered.

Under the digital revamp, Hoyts consumer offerings will now be framed as Cinema, Kiosk and Stream. The group's substantial Hoyts Rewards loyalty program, which features about 540,000 members will be extended to include Hoyts Stream & and Hoyts Kiosk, allowing its customers to be rewarded for any interaction they have with the content on any platform.

Hoyts Chief Commercial & Development Officer Matthew Liebmann said that the company had been assessing a range of technology platforms, “the big issue is how do we connect with our customers when they are not with us in the cinema complex, so we are looking at engaging with them via our web site, looking at mobile apps and mobile micro sites.”

Over the last year, the group has been working to extend the concept of the cinema experience with its ‘Hoyts Plus live’ arm via satellite screens and streams live sporting events, rocks concerts and kids entertainment.

“Satellite technology has allowed us to turn our cinema complexes into locations for a wide range of entertainment, conferences and events,” he added.


In other hi tec news

China yesterday announced an impressive $2 billion subsidy to encourage households to purchase energy-saving electrical appliances including green PCs, while members of the APEC bloc agreed to slash import duties on over 50 power-friendly technologies. China's annoucement came as a surprise.

The announcement from China yesterday was a commitment to a year-long program designed to boost domestic demand for six types of energy saving product including desktop PCs, power transformers and various air conditioning systems.

China's Ministry of Finance told state-run Xinhua News that it expected the initiative would raise the market share of those products to over 40 percent from current levels.

The country’s approximate 130 million desktop computers consume a little over 31.1 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity every year, according to the report.

"The move marks the government's effort to combine stabilizing economic growth and to spur domestic demand while promoting energy savings and emission reductions," a ministry official told Xinhua News.

The subsidy program will help save 31.3 billion kw hours of electricity every year and drive sales of the energy-saving products by 155.6 billion yuan.

China could probably do with a push when it comes to green technology. The nation is still at a very early stage in its maturity according to market analyst Gartner’s new Hype Cycle for Green IT and Sustainability in China.

Source: Hoyts Cinemas.

Google may come to the rescue of iOS 6 Maps users if Apple will let it

With iOS 6, Apple severed its most visible ties with Google, dropping the YouTube app altogether and replacing the Maps app with one it developed from scratch.

Google released its own YouTube app for iOS last week, and it’s currently the most popular free app on the iTunes App Store. But those who’ve pulled the trigger on an iOS 6 upgrade are left with Apple’s Maps app, and they’re not very happy about it – even though it has cool features like 3D buildings in big cities and turn-by-turn navigation (though only on the most recent Apple hardware).

The complaints range from businesses, institutions, roads and entire cities being in the wrong place, to a lack of detail about places of interest. There are problems with ground imagery and loading performance. And some of these are not just simple glitches – some are major errors.

Take, for example, the farm in Ireland that’s called Airfield. The Apple Maps app drops an airport designation on it. Appropriately, the Irish Minister of Justice thinks that’s a dangerous mistake.

I know on occasion mistakes can be made and I am surprised to discover that Airfield, which is in the centre of my constituency in Dundrum, has,  in Apple’s new operating system iOS 6 maps application,  been designated with the image of an aircraft.  Airfield, a 35 acre estate with working farm, formal gardens and café  is of course a famous and immensely popular, important local amenity.  Clearly the designation is not only wrong but is dangerously misleading in that it could result in a pilot, unfamiliar with the area,  in an emergency situation and without other available information, attempting a landing.

The Apple Maps have already inspired a Tumblr blog filled with screen shots of errors. For example, there’s the misplaced Washington Monument, melting German imagery, a remarkably steep road at Hoover Dam, a city in the middle of the ocean and, perhaps my personal favorite, gasoline station icons atop skyscrapers in downtown Houston.



Hey, Apple: Those aren’t filling stations. Those are oil company headquarters. You can’t actually top off your tank at the Chevron building . . .

There’s even a parody Twitter account called @iOS6Maps that appeared Wednesday, was briefly suspended, and now is back to deliver tweets like this:

 iOS 6 Maps@iOS6maps
At Apple, we strive for clean, uncluttered user interfaces. The new Maps removes unsightly place names, buildings, roads, and POIs.
20 Sep 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
There are other map programs for iOS that you can use instead, of course, such as the excellent Waze navigation app. But the question arises: If Google could offer a replacement YouTube app, why isn’t there are a version of Google Maps for iOS?

According to this post at 9to5 Mac, there is – but you can’t have it yet.

Google reportedly has submitted a maps app for iOS 6 to Apple, and is awaiting approval. 9to5Mac cites a Guardian story, but also adds its own detail:

Separately, we heard Google has had a separate version of its iOS Maps app for quite a while that goes back years. Additionally, we learned an updated iOS 6 version has been submitted to Apple. It is awaiting approval, however, and that could take some time. It took a year for Apple to approve Google Voice, for instance, and Apple could technically claim “it duplicates a native service” even though there are quite a few mapping apps already in the App Store like Google Earth. Last month, it looked as if Apple were putting an update to Google Voice that featured Siri-like functionality through purgatory.

Apple’s in a tough position here. If it doesn’t approve the Google Maps app, it runs the risk of looking like a bully. Sure, it could deny the app based on developer rules forbidding software that duplicates basic iOS functions, but there are a slew of other map apps out there already.

If Apple does approve the Google Maps app, and the app runs circles around Apple’s own – as it’s likely to do, given the quality of the Android version – then Apple comes off looking lame against its fiercest competitor.

Apple responded to the criticism today by telling AllThingsD that, the more people use the app, the better it will get:

Apple urged patience. “Customers around the world are upgrading to iOS 6 with over 200 new features including Apple Maps, our first map service,” said spokeswoman Trudy Miller. “We are excited to offer this service with innovative new features like Flyover, turn-by-turn navigation, and Siri integration. We launched this new map service knowing it is a major initiative and that we are just getting started with it. Maps is a cloud-based solution and the more people use it, the better it will get. We appreciate all of the customer feedback and are working hard to make the customer experience even better.”

Although iOS 6 adoption is remarkably high for being out just a day – some estimates put it at above 15 percent – I’ve talked to many folks who say they’ll keep iOS 5 on their iPhones and iPads until Maps is usable, or Google delivers its own replacement. As the furor continues, the number of holdouts could become another embarrassment for Apple.

Update 9.21.2012: Jim Dalrymple of The Loop, who has a good track record when it comes to Apple rumors, says Google has not yet submitted an iOS version of Google Maps.

The iPhone 5 Now on the Loose

The grumbling over a new Apple maps service didn’t deter customers from once again jamming stores to get the latest iPhone.

The phone went on sale at 8 a.m. local time Friday in Apple retail stores and those of its wireless carrier partners. Crowds were heavy, especially at flagship Apple stores like the one on Fifth Avenue in New York. Although Apple won’t say anything yet about sales of the iPhone 5, Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, did some educated guesswork by counting the number of people waiting in line outside stores in New York, Boston and Minneapolis before the doors opened.

Piper Jaffray counted 775 people in line at the Fifth Avenue store, for instance, 68 percent more than the number queued up at the same store when the iPhone 4S went on sale last year, Mr. Munster wrote in a research note. Mr. Munster said the heavier store traffic gave him confidence in his estimate that Apple could sell eight million iPhone 5’s through this weekend.

On Friday afternoon in New York, Eric Jue, Apple’s senior product manager for iPhone, said in an interview that as many as 1,300 people were lining up outside the Fifth Avenue store in the morning. Apple also said that other locations, including a store on the Upper West Side, were crowded with throngs of people hoping to buy the latest version of the iPhone.

Apple said on Monday that it sold two million iPhone 5’s over the Internet the first day people were allowed to submit orders for the product. That figure was double the one million early orders it took for its previous record-holder for 24-hour sales, the iPhone 4S.

Apple doesn’t provide many clues as to whether the iPhone 5 is still in stock in specific stores. Apple’s Web site says people who order the iPhone 5 now will receive it in three to four weeks.

The strong demand for Apple’s phone shows that, in the near term at least, the company’s sales haven’t been hurt by the reaction to Apple maps, a new service that comes on the iPhone 5 and older iPhones and iPads that users upgrade with the latest Apple operating system. The new service has been blasted by early users for inaccurate directions, misplaced landmarks and a lack of street-level imagery, especially in comparison with the more polished Google Maps service it replaced.

Apple’s Mr. Jue said that the new Maps app was just a start, and that he believed that its new features, like turn-by-turn navigation, would make up for the areas where it is sometimes lacking, including inaccurate readings or missing locations. He explained that the company would improve the software over time, because the mapping database relies on “crowdsourcing” customer data — in other words, collecting location data from its millions of iPhone customers. For example, when iPhone owners report problems with the maps service, like a broken address, Apple can go in and fix them, he said.

By NICK WINGFIELD from NYTIMES BLOG