TORONTO – Bell Canada hopes that Canadian consumers will watch full length movies on their cell phones with the launch of Mobile Movies today.
For $5.99 a movie (plus applicable data and time plans), customers can stream movies from a number of genres from The Walt Disney Company’s Buena Vista International Television division and Sony Pictures Television International.
Some are new releases, others classic, or library, content. The release does not indicate how many titles are available.
"It’s a Canadian first and we’re happy to be leading the way," said Wade Oosterman, president of Bell Mobility, in a release. "The addition of Mobile Movies to our roster of Bell Mobility mobile content also underscores that the wireless phone has become the device of choice to deliver a full range of music, video and other entertainment to people on the go."
Mobile Movies are streamed directly to client phones using the Bell wireless high speed network. The interactive movie software application can be downloaded directly from the phone’s menu, and clients can use it to browse movie information, including trailers and plot summaries, before they choose a title.
The Mobile Movies software features intuitive DVD-like playback controls – play, pause, fast forward by chapter and rewind by chapter – in a simple-to-use navigation bar. Clients can exit movies at any point and resume watching from where they left off.
"Our alliance with Bell is Disney’s first mobile agreement for full-length movies outside of the US, and demonstrates our focus on leveraging technology to enhance our content and bring it to consumers in innovative, flexible new ways," said Orest Olijnyk, senior vice-president and managing director, The Walt Disney Company Canada.
The Mobile Movies library includes genres such as action, comedy, drama, and horror, and categories including release date, alphabetical listings, most popular and current trailers.
The movies are now available on these Bell Mobility phones: Samsung models a920, a900 and m500, the Sanyo 7500 and the LG 550, with more movie-capable phones set to launch this year.
Mobile Movies from Bell is powered by mSpot. "The strong growth and repeat purchases of our movie services in the U.S. show consumers have embraced the idea of viewing movies on their mobile phones," said Daren Tsui, CEO and co-founder of mSpot.
