Bluetooth Promo Kiosks
New bluetooth kiosks for distributing movie trailers, ring tones and pictures in Loews Cineplex theaters.
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A Cellphone, a Movie Lobby and a Message
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By ANDREW ZIPERN
Published: July 18, 2005
This summer, moviegoers walking through theater lobbies in three cities might have felt a sudden vibration in their cellphones, the work of a nearby Bluetooth promotional kiosk.
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WideRay
Moviegoers can download cellphone screen "wallpaper" of Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith."
Last month, 20th Century Fox signed a deal with Loews Cineplex Entertainment to distribute movie trailers, ring tones and pictures through kiosks in three Loews theaters, in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
The promotional material can be picked up by anyone with a cellphone equipped to handle Bluetooth, a form of short-range wireless transmission.
Downloading a full-length movie trailer from the kiosk takes about 30 seconds, and there is no fee from the phone's service provider. One ring tone offered is an emphatic voice from the movie "Kingdom of Heaven" that declares, "Protect the stones!"
Moviegoers can also download cellphone screen "wallpaper" of Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." (Mr. Pitt has been downloaded more often.)
"Everyone in the entertainment space is looking for creative new ways to access consumers," said Grant Wakelin, chief executive of the WideRay Corporation, the San Francisco company that developed the wireless technology behind the service. "This is a cool new approach."
WideRay also struck a deal in October to provide mobile games to cellphones via in-store kiosks at 100 Electronics Boutique retail stores. While video game shoppers are a natural audience for Bluetooth downloads, the summer movie crowd seems like a less obvious choice.
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Posted by keefner at July 18, 2005 03:38 AM