source close to The Wall Street Journal (paywall link) has revealed that Amazon are currently in talks with the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem (DECE) to become an UltraViolet partner.
There are now 20 million registered UltraViolet users, but the digital movie locker service has been under constant criticism for being too complicated to set up and use. The main problem stems from the fact that most new users have to create two separate accounts in order to redeem UV movies from DVD and Blu-ray purchase: a main UltraViolet one, and another one on the platform they wish to view the movie. The problem is compounded by the fact that the most popular digital platforms, iTunes and Amazon, are not part of the UltraViolet ecosystem.
Amazon's inclusion into the UltraViolet family would then be a major coup for the platform that has support from all Hollywood studios except for Disney. With many users already in possession of an Amazon account, it would remove one time consuming step from the set up process, and would also take advantage of Amazon's widespread support on portable devices and in people's homes.
The move, if it happens, would also provide studios with much needed ammunition in their battle to reduce to influence of Apple's iTunes in the digital movie space, something that Amazon, with its 15% market share, will help to achieve.
Representatives from Amazon, major Hollywood studios and DECE were unavailable or declined to comment on the WSJ report.
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