New Smartphone Apps Allow Blu-ray Special Feature Transfers to Phones

Coming next week are new apps for smartphones like the Blackberry and iPhone which will allow consumers to transfer special features and interactive segments from Blu-ray discs to their phones. The app will also allow you to control your Blu-ray player with the phone itself. Blu-ray players need to update their firmware to support the feature. Check it out:

The app, which will be available for free at the iTunes store beginning this weekend, works on Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch, the Palm Pre, Google Android and BlackBerry. With it, consumers can transfer downloadable content and interactive features from their Blu-ray Disc to their phone. The phones also can be used as a remote control for a compatible Blu-ray player.

Blu-ray developers and consumer electronics companies have to add the BD Touch capability to discs and players to allow consumers to transfer content. “It’s just one line of code they have to put in,” Pantoja said. “We made it extremely, extremely simple.”

Backers say they intend BD Touch to be an affordable and simple add-on for developers. BD player manufacturers can add the capability through a firmware upgrade so the function can be added to players already in consumer homes. BD Touch backers say the mobile interactivity will help further set the format apart from DVD and make it more appealing to a younger audience that uses mobile phones more and more.

An interesting spin on interactivity for sure, and driving the usability of smartphones to do way more than call. Perhaps Blu-ray films will also see higher quality interactive elements to take advantage of the new app. Full story on Video Business.