Eisner's Disney Launches Cell Phone Service - Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community

Blackthorn · 07-06-2005, 05:57 PM

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.

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?

Mephisto2 · 07-06-2005, 06:06 PM

My God...

I can't think of anything worse! Whilst I enjoy some of Disney's media (films etc), I hate their big corporate approach and attempts to brainwash kids.

The mind boggles... This is nearly as bad as the "baby cologne" thread in parenting.

What has the world come to?!

Mr Mephisto

maleficent · 07-06-2005, 06:09 PM

My 42 year old sister is completely obsessed wiht disney - when she and her husband redid their kitchen it had all disney fixtures, the bathroom, disney fixtures, the kids rooms, disney... where does the family go on vacation? Disneyland.

They have used up the family allocation of disney crap... by law I don't think Iam allowed to own anything disney....

I work in technology, but enoughis enough with the phones already -it should ring... and make a phone ring, not play a song, and it should dial numbers to make a connection..

Elphaba · 07-06-2005, 08:00 PM

Heh...an acquaintance of mine who is a far right evangelical has supported boycotting Disney (for the day dedicated to gays) for all the years I have know her. And yet she takes her children to Disney every year. (I suspect Mal knows who I am talking about).

She didn't seem to understand the irony when I suggested she was a damn poor boycotter.

Elphaba · 07-06-2005, 08:03 PM

But, I failed to answer the question. No children here, but I promise you I don't do "designer" anything. Nor would my offspring get the chance.

OFKU0 · 07-06-2005, 10:12 PM

I bet if you say fuck on a Disney phone the Disney people will hunt you down and confiscate your phone. As probation you must endure 100 hours of Hillary Duff in any media form be it movies, music or whatever.

She doin' porn yet?

Minx · 07-07-2005, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent

I work in technology, but enoughis enough with the phones already -it should ring... and make a phone ring, not play a song, and it should dial numbers to make a connection..

I second this! First off, I am amazed at the number of very very young children I see with a cell phone plastered to their ear. WTF? Who do they need to be talking to when they are six??? I think it's awful how "big business" uses peer pressure to line their pockets. Bleh!

snowy · 07-07-2005, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maleficent

My 42 year old sister is completely obsessed wiht disney - when she and her husband redid their kitchen it had all disney fixtures, the bathroom, disney fixtures, the kids rooms, disney... where does the family go on vacation? Disneyland.

They have used up the family allocation of disney crap... by law I don't think Iam allowed to own anything disney....

I work in technology, but enoughis enough with the phones already -it should ring... and make a phone ring, not play a song, and it should dial numbers to make a connection..

Heh. My friend's aunt is the same way. She was sad on her birthday because she couldn't go to Disneyland for it. I'm sure she'll be first in line for one of these cell phones.

Personally I found the comment about Virgin Mobile more interesting. Before I got my Sprint phone, I was a Virgin customer because they were the cheapest out of all the prepaid phone carriers. They also have good customer service and give you tons of freebies. It's no surprise to me that they are kicking the pants off of other prepaid services

ngdawg · 07-07-2005, 09:01 AM

First thought: It'd be a Mickey Mouse operation.
Luckily, my kids are too old to want anything Disney and they certainly are not getting cell phones any time soon, regardless of who they're from.
I wonder just how many of these ventures will still be in place five years from now...I doubt if there was a list of the 5 biggest carriers, Disney would be even close....

Gilda · 07-07-2005, 06:28 PM

Oh come on people, I think you're overreacting here. How can giving Disney an advertising channel that completely bypasses parental supervision be a bad thing?

You people probably opposed the free pagers that were given away on the backs of cereal boxes a few years ago, which allowed advertisers to page the kids who got them with the numbers of toll calls to recoreded advertising.

Get them young, establish brand loyalty, and you have a customer forever.

Cynthetiq · 07-11-2005, 06:21 PM

myself working for MTV and my brother in law works for Disney we both are quite aware of what each other's corporates are doing.

MTV made a foray into phones and beepers a few years ago. I'm surprised that it took Disney this long. Both media giants are fighting for brand loyalty for future customers, but the funny thing that both companies know is that the consumer is quite fickle and changes at the drop of a hat. A company has the chance to lose a customer during the demographic shift, which is one of the reasons that MTV's model is a bit more successful since there's a place for them to fall into once they move out of the MTV demographic.

Both companies use these types of things to gather up press releases and a small customer base here and there.

Fortunately for my sister who's a big Disney fan is that her husband works there so she gets plenty of Disney stuff at little to no cost. Will she have a phone? Maybe...

Me? i have a 4 year old Nokia phone that I'm not really interested in upgrading until it drops dead.

Ustwo · 07-11-2005, 06:38 PM

I wish he would fix the park instead.

Its an overpriced POS right now if you ask me.

Gilda · 07-11-2005, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ustwo

I wish he would fix the park instead.

Its an overpriced POS right now if you ask me.

I completely agree. Grace and I go to the Disney parks about once a year, just to hit the highlights, a day in each park. We have season passes to Knott's Berry Farm, which, though smaller, is IMHO a far superior park. When we went to Florida last summer, we were pretty much in agreeance that Disneyworld was the third best park in the area.

07-06-2005, 06:09 PM	#3 (permalink)
maleficent Junkie Moderator Emeritus Location: Chicago	My 42 year old sister is completely obsessed wiht disney - when she and her husband redid their kitchen it had all disney fixtures, the bathroom, disney fixtures, the kids rooms, disney... where does the family go on vacation? Disneyland. They have used up the family allocation of disney crap... by law I don't think Iam allowed to own anything disney.... I work in technology, but enoughis enough with the phones already -it should ring... and make a phone ring, not play a song, and it should dial numbers to make a connection.. __________________ Free your heart from hatred. Free your mind from worries. Live simply. Give more. Expect less.

07-06-2005, 10:12 PM	#6 (permalink)
OFKU0 Junk	I bet if you say fuck on a Disney phone the Disney people will hunt you down and confiscate your phone. As probation you must endure 100 hours of Hillary Duff in any media form be it movies, music or whatever. She doin' porn yet? __________________ " In Canada, you can tell the most blatant lie in a calm voice, and people will believe you over someone who's a little passionate about the truth." David Warren, Western Standard.

07-07-2005, 09:01 AM	#9 (permalink)
ngdawg peekaboo Location: on the back, bitch	First thought: It'd be a Mickey Mouse operation. Luckily, my kids are too old to want anything Disney and they certainly are not getting cell phones any time soon, regardless of who they're from. I wonder just how many of these ventures will still be in place five years from now...I doubt if there was a list of the 5 biggest carriers, Disney would be even close.... __________________ Don't blame me. I didn't vote for either of'em.

07-07-2005, 06:28 PM	#10 (permalink)
Gilda 32 flavors and then some Location: Out on a wire.	Oh come on people, I think you're overreacting here. How can giving Disney an advertising channel that completely bypasses parental supervision be a bad thing? You people probably opposed the free pagers that were given away on the backs of cereal boxes a few years ago, which allowed advertisers to page the kids who got them with the numbers of toll calls to recoreded advertising. Get them young, establish brand loyalty, and you have a customer forever. __________________ I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that. ~Steven Colbert

07-11-2005, 06:21 PM	#11 (permalink)
Cynthetiq Tilted Cat Head Administrator Location: Manhattan, NY	myself working for MTV and my brother in law works for Disney we both are quite aware of what each other's corporates are doing. MTV made a foray into phones and beepers a few years ago. I'm surprised that it took Disney this long. Both media giants are fighting for brand loyalty for future customers, but the funny thing that both companies know is that the consumer is quite fickle and changes at the drop of a hat. A company has the chance to lose a customer during the demographic shift, which is one of the reasons that MTV's model is a bit more successful since there's a place for them to fall into once they move out of the MTV demographic. Both companies use these types of things to gather up press releases and a small customer base here and there. Fortunately for my sister who's a big Disney fan is that her husband works there so she gets plenty of Disney stuff at little to no cost. Will she have a phone? Maybe... Me? i have a 4 year old Nokia phone that I'm not really interested in upgrading until it drops dead. __________________ I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. What's the best nation in the world? DO-NATION!

07-06-2005, 06:06 PM	#2 (permalink)
Mephisto2 Junkie	My God... I can't think of anything worse! Whilst I enjoy some of Disney's media (films etc), I hate their big corporate approach and attempts to brainwash kids. The mind boggles... This is nearly as bad as the "baby cologne" thread in parenting. What has the world come to?! Mr Mephisto

07-06-2005, 08:00 PM	#4 (permalink)
Elphaba Deja Moo Location: Olympic Peninsula, WA	Heh...an acquaintance of mine who is a far right evangelical has supported boycotting Disney (for the day dedicated to gays) for all the years I have know her. And yet she takes her children to Disney every year. (I suspect Mal knows who I am talking about). She didn't seem to understand the irony when I suggested she was a damn poor boycotter.

07-06-2005, 08:03 PM	#5 (permalink)
Elphaba Deja Moo Location: Olympic Peninsula, WA	But, I failed to answer the question. No children here, but I promise you I don't do "designer" anything. Nor would my offspring get the chance.

07-11-2005, 06:38 PM	#12 (permalink)
Ustwo Pissing in the cornflakes	I wish he would fix the park instead. Its an overpriced POS right now if you ask me. __________________ Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.