3GSM: MS Unveils DRM for Mobile Platform

Microsoft Corp has announced its new digital rights management (DRM) technology, PlayReady for access to multimedia content on the mobile platform. PlayReady aims to meet the needs of mobile operators and handset manufacturers for digital entertainment and commerce by Supporting multiple content types and flexible rights.

International mobile operators such as Telefonica, O2, Verizon Wireless, Bouygues Telecom, and AT&T, have indicated plans to implement Microsoft’s new DRM technology. In addition, Microsoft is working with mobile industry software developer PacketVideo to showcase a fully operational demonstration of Microsoft PlayReady for the first time, at the ongoing 3GSM conference.

The PlayReady technology aims to enable a broad spectrum of business models such as subscription, rental, pay-per-view, preview and super-distribution, which can be applied to many digital content types and a wide range of audio and video formats. The DRM technology supports content types such as music, video, games, ring tones and images along with Audio/video formats such as Windows Media Audio (WMA), AAC/AAC+/HE-AAC, Windows Media Video (WMV), and H.264. Also, Microsoft claims that the PlayReady enhancements make it easier for consumers to move their content between their devices, giving them a new level of freedom with their digital content.

Amir Majidimehr, corporate vice president of the Consumer Media Technology group at Microsoft said, “Our wireless partners worldwide asked for a single system to power a growing array of business models and consumer scenarios the result is Microsoft PlayReady. With consumer demand for digital goods of all types growing exponentially, this technology delivers a foundation for the future and accelerates the transparent delivery of rich content to consumers.”

Cayetano Lluch, general manager of Technology and Services, Telefonica said, “Microsoft PlayReady technology will be a key enabler for next-generation mobile content services. The validation process we are conducting will allow us to pioneer new service scenarios that work on both the mobile phone and consumers’ PCs. Demand for mobile media content is growing exponentially, and Microsoft PlayReady will help us deliver a tailored digital entertainment experience for our customers.”

Microsoft PlayReady is designed to be fully backward compatible with Windows Media DRM 10, allowing devices that support Microsoft PlayReady to access content using Windows Media DRM. Microsoft will also provide an interoperability program so content may flow to qualifying DRM and content protection technologies.

The technology will be available in the first half of 2007 for handset and device implementation.