Digital Home Thoughts: Blockbuster Announces Mobile Services with Microsoft

"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."

Blockbuster news continues to trickle out. Last week Blockbuster announced a new set-top box and over the weekend it was announced they would eventually support downloading to some Blu-Ray players. Today, the news broke that they are teaming with Microsoft to deliver a new set of mobile services, in part based on LiveMesh. Details are sketchy and this is more of a directional announcement than an product announcement. However, it sounds like Blockbuster is seriously considering how to better compete in this new media environment.

Now if they can just do something about the paltry size of their Blockbuster OnDemand library...