Samsung Mobile has launched “a dedicated [online] movie store for Samsung customers” aptly named, Samsung Movies.
According to the press release:
[T]he new store will allow customers to download and watch their favourite movies and TV shows wherever and whenever they like on compatible Samsung mobile phones, laptops or PCs. Downloads will be available to own or rent.
The new service will launch with over 500 titles from top studios Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and Momentum Pictures. By the end of the first quarter of 2009 a further 500 titles will be added, followed by an additional 1,000 movies and TV shows by the end of June 2009. Samsung Movies start from £2.49 for 24 hour rental or from £4.99 to own.
Initially only available in the UK and Germany, Samsung Movies appears to be a newfangled effort to help sell more handsets, specifically Samsung’s new line of Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Diode (AMOLED) touch screen devices like the Samsung Ultra Touch.
The Ultra Touch also gives 4 hours and 20 minutes of continuous movie viewing on a full charge, meaning you can watch two full movies back to back. Additional devices will be compatible with the Samsung Movies store as they come to market in 2009.
Assuming things work out, the company plans to expand into “other key European markets later in 2009” and to bring “this service to notebooks, mp3 and mp4 players and Samsung TVs.”