A Cellphone, a Movie Lobby and a Message

Bluetooth Poster Last month, 20th Century Fox signed a deal with Loews Cineplex Entertainment to distribute movie trailers, ringtones and pictures through kiosks in three Loews theaters, in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. The system (from WideRay Corporation) uses bluetooth, and allows people to download movie trailers as well as wallpapers of the stars and ringtones using soundbites from the movie.
The benefit of this approach is that users don’t have to pay the operator to download the content…the hindrance is that only 10-15% of mobile phones have bluetooth capability, although Gartner predicts that within a couple of years over 60% of handsets will have bluetooth.
As for popularity…”Although the companies involved would not release numbers on downloads, Mr. Wakelin said that several hundred people a week elected to download some material at each location.” Although those numbers are pretty small they are for people interacting with the advertising, which is what companies want. And as the concept gets used more it should get a bigger response.
Related stories:
Cinema’s Fight Back With Mobile Content
Fantastic (Four) Mobile Content Blitz
Futureproofing Bluetooth

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