Itsme

A cell phone, a movie lobby and a message
Published: July 18, 2005, 6:01 AM PDT
By Andrew Zipern
The New York Times

This summer, moviegoers walking through theater lobbies in three cities might have felt a sudden vibration in their cell phones, the work of a nearby Bluetooth promotional kiosk.

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 cell phone 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 cell phone screen "wallpaper" of Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie in "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." (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, 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 cell phones 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.

Although the companies involved would not release numbers on downloads, Wakelin said that several hundred people a week elected to download some material at each location. (Those who answer the call are asked if they want to accept the download before proceeding.)

The Fox promotion is limited by the number of Bluetooth-compatible phones, which, according to industry analysts, account for 10 to 15 percent of the market. Gartner, a research company, predicts that by 2008, 60 percent of all cell phones will be Bluetooth-enabled.