Blockbuster has announced plans to bring its struggling movie business to mobile phones, announcing the new onDemand service that will first debut on select Motorola handsets.
The new onDemand service will offer "thousands" of movies to Motorola phone owners, and aims to provide users the ability to access movies anywhere, any time.
"Mobile video entertainment is exploding, as consumers are demanding the widest selection of content: the movies they love in their living room and on their PC, now also available on their mobile phone, while on the go," according to Christy Wyatt, Motorola VP of software platforms.
Both Blockbuster and Motorola have struggled in their respective fields, continuing to lose marketshare as financial outlooks slide even further. Blockbuster recently announced its revenue dropped 22 percent and its shares fell 16 percent, confirming an already dim outlook for the next two financial quarters.
Similar to a move between Palm and Sprint-Nextel, the Blockbuster/Motorola alliance will likely yield few positive results for the struggling companies. I'm not convinced either company will be able to persuade phone owners to watch movies on a phone screen, especially as both companies lack the marketing power to convince us otherwise.
Furthermore, AT&T, Apple iTunes, YouTube, FloTV, MobiTV, and similar other companies also are working in the mobile space, which will make Blockbuster's mission even more. Aside from the increasingly cluttered market, mobile video also isn't very popular in the U.S. at the moment -- it's true that sites such as YouTube are receiving more hits, it just doesn't seem like many phone owners want to watch entire movies on their handheld device.
