nReach Offers Entertainment Kiosks For Handheld Devices

GOLDEN, COLO.— nReach, a two-year-old company based here, intends to place kiosks at airports, malls and retail stores to let PDA, cellphone and MP3 player users download various types of entertainment directly to their units, on demand.

The first kiosk will be available at Los Angeles International Airport this October, and nReach expects to receive orders for 400 kiosks by the end of the first quarter. This figure is based on current letters of intent, a spokesman said.

PDA customers can simply go up to the kiosk and insert any of eight different flash memory cards. Movies, travel guides, games, MP3 songs and other entertainment software can be downloaded in seconds, as all the content is onboard at the kiosk rather than delivered wirelessly from a server, the company spokesman said.

Cellphone users can download content, using a wireless connection with the carrier. In addition, nReach is looking into supporting a USB connection for laptops, the spokesman said.