Although recent signs such as the appearance of a customer help site in beta suggested the anticipated pre-Christmas launch of the Redbox Instant by Verizon online entertainment joint venture formed between US telco Verizon and retail solutions specialist Coinstar was on track, it now seems the service may not appear until 2013.

Speaking at the UBS Annual Global Media and Communications Conference, Verizon CEO and chairman Lowell McAdam said the partners were “very pleased” with the progress of the testing. “I think later this month or the beginning of January we’ll open it up to customers, but in a beta sort of format, so we can shake out any of the kinks that are left in the process,” he said. He was “cautiously optimistic” about the service’s potential, but admitted that it wasn’t possible to be sure “until you’re out in the market for six months or so”.

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