DS Vision and the mobile multimedia marketplace

When the Game Boy Advance was a hot property, AM3 released an official flash movie player that never quite took off. On March 8, 2008 they are giving the concept a second shot with DS Vision, a Nintendo DS multimedia player with an online store.

The DS Vision introductory package runs for 3,980 yen ($36), which includes a 512 MB MicroSD card, USB MicroSD reader and the DS Vision adapter. To get content users can log on to AM3’s online store to purchase movies, TV shows, music, books and manga. Dai Nippon Printing has a stake in DS Vision and they will assist in bringing literary content to the store. Gwoemul (aka the Host), a Korean movie about a family hunting a sea monster, a book about the Louvre and the recent TMNT movie are some of things planned for the online store. At launch 300 items will be online; AM3 hopes to have 10,000 pieces of content up in 2010.

This sounds like a brilliant concept, but AM3 faces stiff competition from gray market flash cards that do the same thing without all the digital rights.