Google has quietly launched a brand new option to their Play Movies service – the option to purchase the movie and store it on your device. We have not sought confirmation from Google about this as of yet; but as seen from the screenshots, it is real. Yep, confirmed. Google has confirmed the news through a blog post.
It appears this is only available for a small number of films – we’ve visited The Avengers and 21 Jump Street (as they were featured on the Play Store) and they showed Buy option, but we also saw films like The Hunger Games and Dark Shadows which only offer the right to stream the film. We also checked the website, but could not see a Buy it link on The Avengers and 21 Jump Street – so the only place you can see them is on the App.
What we do know is that it will set you back $24.99 if you want to buy it and not rent – which is on par with iTunes’ pricing of movies. It appears that they are bulking up the content for the Nexus 7 – which, remember, did launch without Music, Magazines (later added), purchase Movies or watch/purchase TV shows – after the announcement by Apple with the iPad mini.
Was this going to announced at Google’s Android event that got cancelled at the last minute? Your guess is good as mine. Yes, it was.