Motorola offers full-length mobile movies

Motorola is bypassing high phone charges incurred in downloading or streaming movies

Motorola has become the first mobile phone maker in the UK to offer full-length movies on its handsets.

However, the deal with Paramount Digital Entertainment will win few friends among mobile data providers.

Consumers will download titles to their PCs from Motorola's site and then side-load them to their phones.

Motorola claims that high phone charges incurred in downloading or streaming movies over the air has prevented the market for mobile movies from blossoming. Side-loading overcomes that hurdle, the firm believes.

Consumers will pay between £5.99 and £8.99 per title to download movies such as The Italian Job.

Motorola does not expect the service to replace home screens, but to develop a new market where customers "snack" on 20-minute chunks of entertainment while commuting, for example.

The company has already made inroads into the mobile movie space with the inclusion of titles such as The Bourne Identity on microSD with the sale of its Z8 phone.

Other handset makers are expected to offer similar services later this year.