Blockbuster working on bringing video rentals to mobile phones

Thu, 29 Nov 2007 21:38:43 +0000

It’s the next logical step. With Apple rumored to be planning some sort of online rental scheme to work with its iPod Touch and iPhone, it’s clear that movie-rentals on mobile phones will soon be a reality. It’s just a matter of who will bring the service to market, and when will it be a viable scheme? Well, Blockbuster is working on convincing major handset manufacturers to work on some sort of mobile-delivery system. Blockbuster CEO James Keyes is in talks to help make it easier for consumers to watch movies on their mobile phones. No word on what manufacturers are being courted, but if Blockbuster means business, they’ll be talking to all our favorite manufacturers, and probably wireless carriers. The Blockbuster chief has even started watching movies on his BlackBerry, with a little help from RIM and a Blockbuster expert. We can’t imagine that anything but a pared-down, lower quality movie will be convenient enough to download onto a mobile phone - what with data speeds, data costs, and handset storage being what they are. And, if these lighter-weight movies cost the same as DVD rentals, we might just have to resort to our own means to get these movies onto our phones. [Via: InformationWeek ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:Into iPhone arrives at the 3rd Street Promenade Apple Store - waiting in line for the iPhone launchMovie Minutes launched; Mobilizes Hollywood blockbustersMobile video - a tough sell!?Facebook Rolls out new Mobile Video Uploading ServiceVideo: Sony Ericsson T650 keypad gives me disco fever

iPhone hacker reveals Apple's online (iTunes) rental plans

Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:50:15 +0000

The latest iPhone update didn’t really do anything impressive for our iPhones. Sure, that TIFF-image security hole was patched, but it was more of a headache for third-party iPhone developers than anything else. Or was it? One iPhone hacker noticed that the last iPhone update contained some interesting code hidden within. These code strings seem to indicate (and confirm previous rumors) that Apple is cooking up some sort of online-based (most likely iTunes-based) rental scheme. Here’s the code-of-interest from the “lockdownd” file: pumpkin:~ pumpkin$ strings /usr/local/share/iphone-filesystem/usr/libexec/lockdownd grep -i rental trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not retrieve FairPlayID trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not initialize FairPlay context trigger_rental_bag_verification: Could not verify the rental bag response: %d load_rental_bag_request: Could not retrieve FairPlayID load_rental_bag_request: Could not initialize FairPlay context load_rental_bag_request: Could not generate rental bag request load_rental_bag_request: Could not create mutable dictionary load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFData from request message load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFArray load_rental_bag_request: Could not create CFNumber from indice RentalBagResponse RentalBagRequest pumpkin:~ pumpkin$ Is Apple planning on launching a movie-rental section for the iTunes Store? We’d pay maybe a buck, or two, to rent a movie for our iPhones, and slightly more for a full-fledged (higher-resolution) version. Anything more expensive than that, and you can bet we’ll be keeping our online movie rental subscription. Act [Via: World of Apple ] ---Related Articles at IntoMobile:SCO Mobile and Genisys Software deliver enterprise vertical solutions to the iPhoneiTunes WiFi music stores goes live today?Apple to require iTunes subscription for iPhoneiTunes Ringtones tab will allow custom ringtones for your Apple iPhone!Could we see another iPhone update this month?

Mobiles reviews - rentals

Blockbuster working on bringing video rentals to mobile phones

iPhone hacker reveals Apple's online (iTunes) rental plans