A huge consortium of media and technology companies have announced the launch of UltraViolet. By acting as a “digital movie locker,” UltraViolet wants to help customers see a movie they have purchased on multiple devices. UltraViolet has a huge list of supporters, but a competitor called KeyChest is already on the horizon.

Source of article – UltraViolet aims to simplify movie ownership by Personal Money Store.

Cloud computing creates the basis of UltraViolet

The UltraViolet consortium combines a huge number of media companies. Media purchases can be tracked on an UltraViolet account on uvvu.com. The digital token they get from registering their media purchases can be used on numerous devices. You could watch a movie that you purchased at Best Purchase with your Comcast account. Buy a Blu-ray DVD, then play the film on your smartphone. The goal of the UltraViolet account is cross-compatibility between systems.

Challenges facing UltraViolet

There is already a format war shaping up with UltraViolet as one of the major players. Disney is developing their own digital rights management system codenamed KeyChest. With a huge movie library that consists of Marvel Entertainment and Pixar studios, Disney controls a large number of movies. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, also serves as a board member and stockholder of the company. The UltraViolet system may not be usable on any Apple device, because Apple did not sign onto the UltraViolet system.

Which management system will end up winning?

If previous format wars are any indication, there will be a number of years where both formats for digital rights management will co-exist. Eventually, whichever format the pornography industry sides with is likely to win. Lack of corporate support or customer support have killed comparable moves within the music industry. It will take a lot to win customer support for either KeyChest or UltraViolet – but it will have to do with the library, the support, and the user interface.