I haven’t seen this posted here yet (sorry if I missed it), but it’s an interesting development – Iroko will launch 100 kiosk locations across Lagos this Q1 to move beyond the broadband data cost/quality burden by allowing in-person, data-free transfers using WiFi Direct:
Transactions (collecting cash/facilitating mobile wallet etc)
Data Free Downloads (DRM protected)
The move is somewhat reminiscent of Paga’s agent network and there’s an argument to be made (I summarized some key points in Iroko’s history and made it in this article ) that it’s just the latest example of how Iroko continues to evolve to embrace consumers at the base of the pyramid.
So they’re transferring a fully length movie content to mobile phones now . what stops the consumer with that content getting the physical content on their mobile phone transferred to another user because its 100% stored somewhere on that phone right?
Off the cuff, if receiver much have the Iroko app and the downloaded video saves with an extension only the app can play, and if also receiver must have an active subscription, then the video is fairly safe from freeloading.
Only if the file is in an encrypted format for a pirate / or they have created a new sort of mpeg format. Else everything said is plain bull to me if I can get that physical copy of the file.
@87_chuks is spot on and helped me realize I had the incorrect link for Jason’s explanation in his Beyond Data blog post, but the relevant portion is below:
Once it’s battle tested, we open up and allow person-to-person movie file sharing under the .iroko drm file storage framework. In order to watch the files you will 1. need the irokotv app installed, 2. need a valid subscription. That’s it. To check for a valid subscription requires <2mb in data (we’re trying to find a way around this). Yet for moving files? Zero. I am sure there will be mistakes along the way. It’s only 1.0 so [we] will take a bunch of time to iron out any and all the bugs…
We start a closed beta roll out this week and expect, over the next few weeks and months, to unleash the full potential of this technology.
I was speaking in hypotheticals, if that soothes you better …change the extension part to encrypted format only the Iroko app can read and you have a solution to your initial quagmire
Smart idea and about time. Iroko’s major challenge was the cost of bandwidth. With the kiosks now they can price their content closer to the pockets of consumers. However, the whole DRM strategy to me is questionable. They should stick with known video standards and follow the model of pricing media low enough to discourage piracy and throw in incentives for downloading from the kiosk like loyalty points, frequent buyer discounts and prizes. They also need to stick to content and let entrepreneurs buy kiosks and distribute their product. They would probably be better judges of location.
You dear are not in the target market base of bottom pyramid.
Unless of course you play baba ijebu and the local lottery at the bookmakers.
The guys who spend their little income daily on nairabet and the likes; that’s their kind of customer.
You may not immediately realize this, but in the distribution of people in Lagos state your demographic (engaged techie with post-highschool education) is probably less than 10%.
If we had more open data one could consult the national directorate of employment to see the number of unemployed youth in Lagos alone.
A part of me is thinking that this is a typo. I think he was trying to suggest that Iroko will be building the first CDN across Nigeria using kiosk like structures co-hosted with base stations as mini datacenters that allows you to download movies at ridiculously fast speeds from the comfort of your house.
But hey, it’s Iroko! By the end of the week they could change their mind again and decide to use drones to deliver DVDs to your doorstep and it will be considered as innovation…
Bro. I street pass street. Forget story. Even my food is based on street cred. It doesn’t make sense. why would anyone go and be downloading in a kiosk. See. WHen I saw the kiosk, I went there to buy their ticket to see the experience. Forget story. Anyway, it’s good to experiment na from there things dey happen. Like I said. I wait to be surprised.
You have to really understand the market. Ride on existing framework is the market rule. You can improve the framework, but the people must have been used to the framework. Your baba Ijebu people don’t go and pay for downloading on movies. when there’s wide screen dstv there. Like I said. I would be surprised. For market, we talk say, never say never.
Uber didn’t have to buy cars or bring cars for people to start sharing…
Thats what they once said about ATMs and POS machines. Again, if Iroko gets the pricing right and the distribution strategy right they are tapping right into the 25-35 consumer sweetspot. After all, “street” are all those people sitting on the corners downloading MP3s and videos to people’s phones from laptops.
Jason got the tech right this time. But he needs to work on his kiosk rollout strategy. Lagos is only 12% of telephone users, 24% of consumer spend total. He should be rolling out in all the malls across the country - Abuja, Ibadan, Kano, Onitsha, Enugu, Port Harcourt, Calabar, Warri, Kaduna, etc.
But DSTV and MTN hold the final say on distribution. DTV is where most movie rentals are going to happen not on the internet.
To those questioning the offline feature and assuming it automatically enables piracy, I hope you know Netflix allows downloads too. Other services that come to mind include Youtube, and Spotify. DRM protected downloads are not new and I’m very surprised that is being argued - even if this was 2012.
I like the idea of using kiosks, but having them operated by humans brings in a cost and efficiency element. Your idea of using mini datacenters or more appropriately public Wi-Fi hotspots would seem more cost-effective to me. Here users would download content data-free 24/7 without having to interface with humans…much like an iRoko content ATM. However, Jason explained that the purpose of the kiosks is more than data-free content distribution, but also customer education and care which requires an agent on site.
Seriously! I was quite surprised reading this thread as well. As a free culture/ Open source guy, I generally don’t like to have DRM in anything I use, but it’s a pretty common practice for virtually any streaming service around today. While no DRM is 100% tamper proof, I highly doubt the people iroko is targeting have the skills or inclination to attempt to decode it. Like @xolubi and others said, having the ability to share movies between customers is actually really neat and gets around the all important data limit issue. It’s a welcome development and I wish them all the best with it.
As for going to kiosks to download movies, you have to realise that these are the same people that, not that long ago, went to film shops to buy often pirated and low quality DVD versions of movies. By comparison, this is a definite step up
Oga if you were street like you claim, then you will know that this tactics isn’t new. Go to Computer Village (and most gadget stores around the country), you’ll find many people transferring songs and apps from into people’s phones at N20-N50 per file. This is how many “base-of-pyramid” users get most of their contents. Iroko just put a top spin on it.
Actually. 1. Young people don’t pay N50 to download 1 song. They go there to download like 200 songs on the new memory card they just bought from the computer village. And won’t come back again just to download new songs. But even This was way back. People used to do this. Most young people don’t do this anymore. But all of this is speculation.
Anyways. I wish them success. I hope I am wrong. But then again their pockets is deep enough. Experiments like this are essential for growth.
The idea of using an agent network to distribute iroko DRM’d content is very plausible. In fact, if anything, it serves right a people who are not tech savvy enough, and those who may not exactly be in position to bear the data tax burden. I don’t know about Nigeria, but the concept of an iroko ATM could be explored in the future. In Uganda, as @oquidave can attest, there are these vending machines – PayWay – which are primarily payment platforms placed in busy (and secure) areas for a bevy of utilities; airtime, DSTV, Startimes, concert tickets, name it. Putatively, features like wifi direct can be incorporated to enable transfer of multimedia content without necessarily the need for a pricey internet connection.
I actually recommended CDN solution to PayWay in my review way back in 2012 >> “With digital content stored in the local memory of these machines or streamed from a central server, Payway can actually distribute digital content like music to its clients phones through Bluetooth peer-to-peer connectivity upon payment. Most phones are Bluetooth enabled these days which technically increases the chances of Payway being a proximity digital content distribution service provider. Next time i visit the kiosk with my Bluetooth enabled android phone and a 10,000 Shilling note, i will be happy to come back with atleast five high quality Songs off Isaiah Katumwa’s latest Jazz album.”
. what stops the consumer with that content getting the physical content on their mobile phone transferred to another user because its 100% stored somewhere on that phone right? 
