True Hollywood Story

Frequent-flying gadget fanatics may have thought they mastered the art of video entertainment at 30,000 feet when they started buying up those mini, battery-powered DVD players that hit the market a few years ago. However, it turns out that sleek, little DVD players aren't the coolest--and easiest--way to have video to go.

PocketPC Films, a subsidiary of TuneIn Entertainment based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., allows PocketPC users to watch feature films on their PDAs. They can buy movies on CD-ROM from PocketPC Film's Web site or at retail stores like CompUSA, and quickly download (if you think 10 minutes is quick enough) the CD-ROM's contents from a host computer to their PocketPCs before they travel.

TuneIn Entertainment Chairman Darrell Griffin actually thought of the application after a co-worker transferred a movie to Griffin's PDA before a flight from Los Angeles to New York. PocketPC Film developed a patented download process with the help of partners IBM and Compaq. Also executing on the part of its strategy--which is most significant to the success of PocketPC Films' plan to distribute Hollywood content--the company has negotiated partnerships with several movie studios and content producers.

These relationships have given the company and its customers access to a growing library of about 25,000 films. So far, PocketPC Films is averaging sales of about 10,000 CD-ROMs per month, but it is also expanding to more retail partnerships. The films are priced similarly to widely released DVDs, with many costing between $12 and $16.

As far as variety, the company offers mainstream feature films, sports videos and even such wide-ranging content as motivational seminar series for businesspeople--and at the other end of the spectrum, a "comedy and erotic thriller" starring Traci Lords.

Now that's entertainment.

For a related story, read our February 2002 feature, How a Little Software Company in Seattle is Mobilizing E-mail for Everybody (One Person at a Time).