MetroPCS Stocks Samsung Indulge with Iron Man 2, plus SanDisk Spyware

A few weeks ago we told you about the first Android phone to come to MetroPCS’s 4G LTE network, the Samsung Galaxy Indulge. Thrown in amongst the spec list was an odd sort of combination — a copy of Iron Man 2 pre-loaded onto the SD Card. A free movie! Great, right? Yeah… there’s a downside.

SanDisk MicroSD on MetroPCS Phone Tells Them When You Watch the Movie

It’s not necessarily a call for alarm, but the SD Card used in the Indulge is reporting usage back to MetroPCS in order to “determine the impact of the impact of its movie offering”. Basically, MetroPCS wants to know when and how often you actually watch Iron Man 2 on your phone. They say that they’re doing this to “provide customers with more customized content and services in the future.”

MetroPCS and Samsung Indulge: Smartphone with Spying SanDisk MicroSD Card

It’s not that I think that MetroPCS is doing anything wrong, but the idea of a MicroSD card reporting my personal data access back to anyone bothers me. For the full skinny on what Sandisk are saying about these “intelligent cards” check out the press release below.  Let us know in comments what you think of MetroPCS using this MicroSD card to report on your movie-viewing?

SANDISK SUPPLIES FLASH MEMORY CARDS LOADED WITH “IRON MAN 2″ MOVIE FOR BUNDLING WITH METROPCS’ ANDROID SMARTPHONE

4GB SanDisk microSDHCâ„¢ Mobile Memory Card Provides Measurable, Real-Time Customer Feedback on Preloaded Content

Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, February 15, 2011-SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), the global leader in flash memory cards, today announced that it has begun supplying a 4 gigabyte (GB)1 microSDHCâ„¢ mobile memory card pre-loaded with the full-length Paramount Pictures’ “Iron Man 2″ movie for bundling with MetroPCS’ new Indulge LTE smartphone. This card delivers a high-quality movie watching experience on the new Android-based handset by Samsung.

One of 2010′s hottest movies, “Iron Man 2″ can be instantly played from the SanDisk microSDHC mobile memory card by inserting it into the Indulge phone, which contacts the MetroPCS network automatically. This intelligent SanDisk mobile memory card provides specific, real-time network data to MetroPCS to measure customer interest in digital content. Details of aggregated, anonymous consumer usage will allow MetroPCS to determine the impact of its movie offering, which in turn allows them to provide customers with more customized content and services in the future.

“Our card helps MetroPCS deliver premium content that is both secure and easily accessible, and provides measurable real-time data that gauges consumer interest in the content,” said Robert Khedouri, vice president and general manager, software and solutions, SanDisk. “This allows MetroPCS to deliver a premium mobile experience to its customers and take full advantage of this new smartphone’s rich features.”

SanDisk’s secure card-based mobile solutions enable secure access, storage and playback of premium digital content. Specifically, SanDisk microSDHC mobile memory cards are embedded with security technology that allows for conditional access to digital content by regulating the network connection through the card, where the files are encrypted and stored. In the MetroPCS Indulge, this includes: secure, copy-protected storage of the video content, access to the content through a quick validation between the network and the phone (via the card), as well as activation reporting to provide MetroPCS with monthly collated data about movie playback usage patterns.