Sprint to offer full-length movie downloads

Service to allow users of mobile video phones to watch full-length movies, television shows, concerts and comedy specials.

The story "Sprint to offer full-length movie downloads" published December 11, 2005 at 11:10 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from Reuters expires after 30 days.

[Earl Benser]

I hate to think.....

... of all the cell phone idiots being mesmerized for hours at a time
by streaming movies on a 2" screen. And I hate to think how many
would be trying to drive their car at the same time. Already, we
have too many cell phone idiots who try to drive while talking on
their cell phones.

And isn't a streaming movie on a 2" screen something only a very
small mind could appreciate????

[Earl Benser]

Just beat the flak.....

... the same video argument applies to the iPod, except that the
iPod videos are actual downloads, not streamed, and people have
not tried driving (yet) while watching their iPod. And I believe that
the iPod video downloads are first on the computer, so they can be
watch on a big screen too.

[R. U. Sirius]

The Sprint idea is ill conceived

Downloads are only going to work if people can move the movie from one device to another, if the content is popular, and if the output quality is high. Watching movies on a cell phone only is a weird concept.

The iPod situation is different in a couple of ways:

1. The content can be viewed on the computer
2. The content is better. One eyed jacks?

The only flaw in Apple's approach is that the content needs to have a higher output quality so that it looks good on large screens.

[jdmills]

With titles like that yes, but...

taking your media with you is the wave of the future. The iPod
screen is about 2" and video content (NBC, Pixar, ABC, or custom)
on it is already exploding. Regardless, I think Sprint has missed the
mark on this one. At least the iPod is a portable media player. Cell
phones have a long way to go before they achieve that status (also
see: ROKR :-\ )