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Porn: Coming soon to a kiosk near you

April 5, 2011 by Cherryh Cansler — Editor, FastCasual.com

Kiosks allow consumers to check in for flights and into hotels, buy groceries and rent DVDs — all without human interaction. So, it comes as no surprise that the porn and self-service industries have finally collided to create the PleasureXone kiosk, which allows users to browse adult film titles and download them onto USB storage devices.

Pardon me if I don't take advantage of the opportunities for puns while I employ such terms as "self-service" and "hard drive." This is a family-friendly website.

According to a press release, California-based MindfulEye Inc. developed the kiosks with portability and privacy in mind. They allow consumers to purchase USB drives, external drives and "adult products" 24-hours a day, 365-days a year with complete privacy. Movies cost between .99 and $5.95 and can be played on personal computers, televisions, or a specially equipped gaming device, and unlike Internet-based companies, the MindfulEye systems deliver the product to the consumer within seconds.

The deployment of 2,000 kiosks to liquor stores, truck stops, lingerie stores and adult stores is already underway.

Keeping away minors
Although the kiosks, which are pink and purple and feature photos of lingerie-clad women or adult products, are deployed in places minors don't often frequent, I assumed parents would be worried about their kids stumbling onto the content.

However, there's no need to worry, said Bryan Ross, a managing partner of MindfulEye. Minors are kept from using the kiosks through the company's driver's license authorization process.

"So (there's) no chance of minors (using them) unless they steal their parents cc and dl. We can't be responsible for dishonest people," he said.

And even if a kid were to be hanging out while someone else was using the machine, Ross said he still wouldn't get an eye-full. The kiosks have no pornographic previews.

Is it a good business model?
Keeping kids from seeing adult content is obviously an important part of the discussion, but I was even more interested as to why Ross thought his kiosks made good business sense. Did he really expect people to stand in front of kiosks displaying sexy photos that might as well as say "Porn for sale"? It isn't exactly anonymous or private – people will obviously know why you're there.

Ross disagreed.

"We believe that standing in front of our kiosk for 20 seconds while waiting for a movie to download is more discreet than perusing hundreds of DVDs that have large, colorful, images that are far more provocative than anything we show," he said.

However, I can't imagine anything more discreet than ordering and watching adult content at home. Although Netflix is clear on its no-porn stance, after an interesting Google search I found a few companies that rent porn via mail or streaming. Also, everyone knows there's a lot of free porn online, which begs the question, "Why porn kiosks?"

It's a privacy issue, according to Ross, who reminded me that although it may seem more discreet to use an online or mailing service, neither system is private.

"We are completely private," he said. "There is no trace of what you are looking at, renting or buying."

True, unless you're worried about store employees or other consumers seeing you use them, but then on the other hand if they're hanging out by the kiosks, then they're probably there for the same reason.

To deploy or not to deploy?
Obviously, most retailers won't ever deploy PleasureXone kiosks. (Can you imagine gas stations or fast-food restaurants deploying a porn box next to the redbox?) But does it even make sense for MindfulEye's aforementioned target audience – truck stops, lingerie stores, liquor stores and adult stores – to have them onsite?

Yes, according to Ross, who expects the machines to be profitable for retailers in those industries. Each kiosk contract is customized for its location and could be either a revenue share with the retailer, a rental of the unit or could be based on another mutually agreeable term, he said. Business owners can order kiosks off-the-shelf or have them custom built to meet their needs and specifications. They can even be designed to allow for co-branding opportunities.

Ross said the company is now accepting orders for second-quarter delivery. It will be interesting to see if this business venture pays off. There have always been skeptics when it comes to industries adopting new technologies, and just as more-mainstream retailers often say their customers use a variety of platforms – kiosks, mobile phones, websites and brick-and-mortar stores – to research and buy goods, maybe porn connoisseurs will embrace yet another way to get porn.

About Cherryh Cansler

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Cherryh Cansler is VP of Events for Networld Media Group and publisher of FastCasual.com. She has been covering the restaurant industry since 2012. Her byline has appeared in Forbes, The Kansas City Star and American Fitness magazine, among many others.

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