Following the success of its film Frozen, Disney introduces a new service where users can own and watch their movies digitally. Unsurprisingly, they launched it on the day Frozen becomes available for digital download.
Aptly called Disney Movies Anywhere, this free service allows consumers to purchase any digital movie from Disney’s library of films as well as those from Pixar and Marvel. When you purchase Frozen from this service, you literally own it, as you can now watch it “anywhere” – your TV, iOS device, and even on your computer. The only requirement is that you link your account to your devices and the purchased movie will be available on all of these devices.
With Disney Movies Anywhere, you can:
- Watch your Disney, Pixar, and Marvel movies everywhere you go.
- Build your digital movie collection with a library of hundreds of videos to choose from.
- Get new movies directly through the app or redeem your Disney digital copies.
- Access exclusive Disney content for free – original programming, never-before-seen videos.
- Watch movies while connected or download movies to your device for offline viewing.
- Earn Disney Movie Rewards points for every digital transaction.
This is not limited to Disney movies only, but also for Pixar and Marvel movies. Both studios are wholly owned by Disney, though they still operates as separate entities.
The movie industry has come to accept that there increasingly, consumers would like to own their collection of digital movies. This resulted in the rise of digital movie storage platforms such as UltraViolet, which has partnerships with American stores and every major film companies globally.
Disney secures partnership with Apple
Disney Movies Anywhere is however, uniquely different from other offerings in the market, as it is tied to the iTunes. We all know that iTunes controls 60% of all digital film purchases worldwide.
“We had always made the decision that we were going to do something different,” said Jamie Voris, Walt Disney Studios’ Chief Technology Officer. “For us, it was really about waiting until we felt that we had … something that we felt was worthy of our brand, and something our customers would expect from us.” Jamie told LA Times.
As to why Disney Movies Anywhere must be linked to iTunes, “We think that it is really important to be able to buy our movies from the places that people already want to buy [them]. That’s why it was so important for us to partner with Apple,” Voris said. “If you want to be integrated with digital retailers, Apple is the big partner to have.”
Using Disney Movie Anywhere is as simple as going to its website, where customers can download the iPhone app. Disney movies which are already in the user’s film library can then be imported onto the iPhone app. For some who have purchased select DVDs, there are codes provided to download the films digitally.
While Disney Movies Anywhere will be exclusively on the iOS platform, negotiations with Android-based mobile phones are already in the works.
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