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This story was printed from CNET Asia.
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Sony Ericsson to debut first PlayNow kiosks in Asia

By Damian Koh
14/01/2009
URL: http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/mobilephones/0,39050603,62050067,00.htm

Starting this month, Sony Ericsson mobile phone users will be able to walk into select stores in Asia to download full-length movies, TV series, games and DRM-free music onto their handsets via a dedicated download kiosk.

Editors' note:

According to Sony Ericsson, the company plans to roll out PlayNow kiosks in the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam by the later half of the year. It also expects to introduce PlayNow plus and PlayNow arena download services in the region in H1 2009.

At the launch event held at Sentosa Cove today, the Japanese-Swedish firm said that movies downloaded from PlayNow kiosks will be scaled to fit the aspect ratio (either 4:3 or 16:9) of the phones and it will come with DRM. A 90-minute movie, the company added, has a file size of about 500MB. The kiosk is also compatible (via an attached cable) with the Xperia X1 which uses a mini-USB port instead of the proprietary connector on the rest of the Sony Ericsson mobiles.


The new service, which comes as part of a content licensing partnership with Sony Pictures Entertainment, will have over 23,000 DRM-free songs, 30 movie titles, four TV series and 25 games at launch. Sony Pictures is the studio behind the Will Smith's blockbuster Hancock and James Bond film Quantum of Solace.

The company also expects to add eight new games every month and further expand its library with its PlayNow services including PlayNow plus. The latter is a buffet-style music download service announced on September 24 last year, with operator Telenor in Sweden the first to launch it commercially in Q4 2008.

Movies available on the same day as the local DVD release cost S$24.99 per title, while each TV series episode and music track is priced at S$2.99. Music albums start from S$19.99 and a compilation of 50 pre-selected tunes cost S$9.99. Games, on the other hand, begin from S$5 per title.

Users will need to purchase a stored value smart card from Sony Ericsson stores, plug their phone to the kiosk, and browse the available content via a touchscreen panel before downloading directly to the handset.

According to Sony Ericsson, the rollout of the download kiosks will be carried out in phases. The first wave will include over 80 stores in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

PlayNow, which currently comprises PlayNow arena and PlayNow plus, was first introduced in February 2004 and is available in 32 countries globally.