Windows Phone Thoughts - Daily News, Views, Rants and Raves

"It's always been kind of a pain to get movies onto your Windows Phones. You either had to do some special conversion and then copy it over in the File Explorer over USB, or you had to sync it through Windows Media Center and live with the low-quality conversion that gave you. Luckily, the HTC HD2 on T-Mobile USA comes with a Blockbuster application that lets you rent and buy full length high quality movies right from your phone. Not only do they look great on the HD2's screen, but you get to access actual new releases when they're released unlike with Netflix where you have to wait for them to show up."

A few gotchas are mentioned at Pocketnow but other than the prices involved, this looks like a nice way to actually watch great content on a great device. I can see it as a wonderful option while flying, especially when you want to pick your own movie rather than watch what the airlines offer!

"Blockbuster Inc. caught up to the competition last week by introducing a set-top box that brings rentals from the Internet to the television. Now, the Dallas-based company hopes to pass the pack by teaming with Microsoft Corp. on new mobile services that will let customers watch even more movies on more devices. 'Eventually, we'll give customers instant access to any movie on any device with an Internet connection and a screen,' said Keith Morrow, Blockbuster's chief information officer."

I really love Netflix and their Watch Now service but the truth is their selection is pretty slim pickings. Out of the 400 DVD's in my Netflix queue, only 9 of them are available as Watch Now titles. Out of all of those 9 movies, I cannot play any of them on my Windows Mobile devices or any other mobile device I own. It will be very interesting to see how Blockbuster is able to pull this off, especially since they mention the ability to stream any movie on any device. Now the real question is does any movie count as any movie they carry in their stores and online service or will this be like Netflix where it is any movie they will have in their handful of movies that are able to stream. Only time will tell. It is nice however to see big name companies already utilizing the new Live Mesh platform.