Thursday, March 19, 2009

Samsung launches downloadable film store for upcoming devices

Over 1,000 movies will be available for download

Samsung has launched a downloadable movie store in its first foray into the services business.

Over one thousand films will be available for download on some upcoming Samsung devices, beginning with the Tocco Ultra (pictured).

Titles can be rented or bought outright. New movies will cost around £13 to buy, 24-hour rentals will cost upwards of £2.49.

It is the first mobile handset manufacturer to offer such a service, and mimics one aspect of Apple’s iTunes store.

Samsung appears keen not to adopt the confrontational stance with operators taken by Nokia over its services strategy, even though Samsung’s service does not offer a data revenue opportunity for operators.

Films will have to be downloaded to a computer and then sideloaded to a phone.

Nick Turner Samuels, head of content at Samsung UK, said: ‘It’s not necessarily a profit machine, but it gives us the ability to work with our channel partners further. It is about providing more reasons for customers to buy Samsung phones.’

He added: ‘Our partners have reacted positively to it and that is partly because it is not something that clashes with their plans. We don’t want to compete with the operators, we want to complement their services.’

source

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