07-06-2005, 05:57 PM
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#1 (permalink)
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Beware the Mad Irish
Location: Wish I was on the N17...
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Eisner's Disney Launches Cell Phone Service
Linkyness
Quote:
NEW YORK - Doers and doings in business, entertainment and technology:
It's a cell world after all: The Walt Disney Co. (nyse: DIS - news - people ), led by Chief Executive Michael Eisner, has announced plans to launch a family-centric, Disney-branded wireless phone network sometime next year. The venture, called Disney Mobile, will sell mobile service, custom handsets, and premium phone content like downloadable ring tones, games and applications featuring Disney characters. The media and entertainment company will use the Sprint (nyse: FON - news - people ) national cellular network to carry calls, allowing it to skip the expensive process of building a national phone network.
By becoming a "mobile virtual network operator," or MVNO, Disney will be able to gain access to a dedicated, direct marketing channel to kids. Mobile networks have proven to be a strong new revenue stream for both content and service providers, and Disney has been a pioneer in the market, using cellular platforms both to promote new movies and profit from its broad archives of characters and content (see: "An 'Incredible' Marketing Ploy").
The new Disney network isn't the company's first foray into mobile networks; since 2000, The Walt Disney Internet Group has sold Disney content through existing cellular carriers including Sprint, Japan's NTT DoCoMo (nyse: DCM - news - people ), and Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications (nyse: VZ - news - people ) and Vodafone Group (nyse: VOD - news - people ). And in December, Disney subsidiary ESPN launched its own MVNO. Both networks follow the lead of the Virgin Group, which launched its own service using the Sprint PCS network in 2002. Virgin Mobile USA already has more than 3 million subscribers, and is reportedly considering an IPO later this year, which could find the company valued at as much as $2 billion.
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Would you succumb to the peer pressure set by allowing your preteen to have a Disney chartered celluar phone? Would you go all GOOFY and get one for yourself?
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What are you willing to give up in order to get what you want?
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