There is a new service which allows Apple costumers owners of iPhone, iPad or the iPod Touch to download a movie via the App Store rather than through the usual port of iTunes. The first to pick up this new idea is Warner Bros. who will release two of their most popular titles in recent years: Inception and The Dark Knight as their first. The aim of this is to reach those customers in the 23 other countries who don’t yet have access to these films through iTunes.
Owners of the mobile devices will be able to download a preview app for free, which allows consumers to view the first 5 minutes of the film, as well as browse trailers, clips and look at trivia. For the whole movie you will pay standard iTunes costs for newer and older movies. Now this works out as $11.99 for Inception, $9.99 for The Dark Knight.
Of course this is a way of branching out popular movies to territories unable to access them in order to make more money. But also sees Warner Bros looking forwards, in perhaps an attempt to show us that the future of the business perhaps relies on multi-platform distribution and pricing. (L.A. Times)