Nokia presents... Bollywood

A few weeks ago, Fox announced there would be a special version of "24" airing on certain cell phones this year. Looks like Airtel, the Cingular of India, is going to beat them to the punch. They announced today they will premiere a film on mobile phones prior to a theatrical release.

The movie is called "Rok Sako To Rok Lo" ("Stop Me If You Can") will premiere in 10 major cities using EDGE-enabled handsets. The film will air live starting at 3pm (IST), and will be streamed, with no copying or downloading allowed. This is particularly interesting as a research report from the BBC revealed that consumers are focusing more on service and lifestyle benefits over technology.

This is no surprise to us, as we are keenly aware of the importance of consumer benefit. Too many companies are focused on technology benefits, not lifestyle benefits. For example, ask most consumers if they want a phone with Brew or Symbian, and their heads will likely start to smoke. Ask the same consumers if they want to play solitaire or poker on their phone, and they know how to answer the question.

The BBC report, conducted by Ericsson, interviewed 14,000 mobile phone users, and polled them on usage behaviors and activities. Very interesting results on how the patterns and behaviors emerged, with examples from the phonecam growth (over 45% of Japanese phonecam owners use the camera at least once per month).

Read the India movie-on-phone story at CNET News.com
Read the BBC report on lifestyle product decisions.