Advanced Television

Sony offers UltraViolet movie ‘gift wrap’

December 13, 2012

By Colin Mann

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) is encouraging US consumers to do away with rolls of wrapping paper, tape and high shipping costs with the launch of the Sony Pictures Gift Store (www.sonypicturesgiftstore.com) powered by Movie eWrap.

The gift-giving destination and Movie eWrap gift-wrapping technology allows shoppers to purchase and gift any of the nearly 500 UltraViolet digital movies available in the Sony Pictures Store to provide a personalised and interactive experience for their family and friends.

Compatible with tablets and computers and optimised for touch interfaces, gift recipients simply swipe or click to see and hear decorative digital ribbon and wrapping paper ‘tear off’, revealing an UltraViolet digital movie selected from a broad collection of Sony Pictures titles.

Gifters’ family and friends will be able to access and play UltraViolet digital movies on their favourite devices anytime and anywhere. Favourites from classics including Lawrence of Arabia to recent blockbusters such as The Amazing Spider-Man, Men in Black 3 and Arthur Christmas are available. The Sony Pictures Gift Store also features a ‘Gift-Finder’, which intelligently sources the best titles to give any friend or family member based on a dynamic combination of criteria selected such as release date, genre, and box-office performance.

“Just in time for the holidays, we’re pleased to present this unique new way for movie fans to send friends and family a personalised, interactive digital movie gift,” said Lexine Wong, Senior Executive Vice President, Worldwide Marketing, SPHE. “With its innovative wrapping and unwrapping feature – powered by Movie eWrap – digital movie gifts are now both fun to receive and fun to give.”

“Sony Pictures Home Entertainment continues to develop some of the industry’s most ground-breaking creative concepts intended to deliver new and fun digital experiences. Movie eWrap fulfils these goals by providing consumers a uniquely digital service experience that captures the best elements of physical gift giving while leveraging the new ways people want to interact in the digital world,” stated Richard Berger, SVP of Global Digital Strategy and Operations for SPHE.

Movies as gifts are in demand according to Deloitte LLP’s 2012 annual holiday survey, as movies and music rank among the ‘top five’ gifts that consumers surveyed plan to purchase this year. SPHE suggests that UltraViolet digital movies are “the perfect gift,” providing broader access in terms of how and where people enjoy films, across a variety of mobile devices, smartphones, connected TVs and Blu-ray players, and more.

Sony Pictures Gift Store and Movie eWrap are optimised for use on Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac OS computers along with Android and iOS devices.

Categories: Articles, CA/DRM, Connected TV, Content, Mobile, OTT, OTT, Portable Media, Rights