Troubled handset-maker Motorola has quietly shut down its movie download service in the UK after launching it just nine months ago, reports New Media Age. A Motorola spokesperson confirmed that the service – which was launched in conjunction with movie studio Paramount and platform provider Saffron Digital – was closed at the beginning of the year. A source said that a lack of marketing had been responsible for the store’s failure. The service enabled users to download films to a PC and then ‘sideload’  them to a Motorola device. It offered 40 Paramount titles at launch costing between £5.99 and £8.99. New Media Age notes that the two Motorola executives responsible for the service – senior director Andrew Till and regional manager Steven Trew – both left the company in January.

The closure of the service comes just a week after rival handset vendor, Samsung, announced it is to roll-out its own mobile movie download service in the UK, Germany and other key European markets later this year. Over 500 titles from Warner Brothers, Paramount, Universal and Momentum Pictures will be made available at launch. The service is designed to work with the South Korean vendor’s new touch screen phones, including the Tocco Ultra Edition.