Figment!
01-25-2008, 08:16 AM
Disney Mobile Confident in Japan Despite US Flop
AFP
1/23/2008
Disney unveiled its first mobile phones in Japan on Tuesday, saying the US entertainment gaint is "extremely confident" in success here after learning lessons from its flop in the US market.
Walt Disney Japan, the local unit of Walt Disney Co., said it would begin a new mobile telephone service, named "Disney Mobile," on March 1 together with Softbank Corp in line with their initial announcement in November.
Aimed at young working women, Disney Mobile will first offer three types of mobiles made by Japan's Sharp, whose outer package is covered with silhouette patterns of Mickey Mouse.
They also feature a special online bottom that will allow subscribers to jump to Disney websites, while Disney's iconic characters can be used on standby screens and to decorate e-mails free of charge.
Further details, including prices, were to be released later.
Disney will become Japan's first so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), or a company that buys capacity from another firm to provide cellphone services.
"We are extremely confident" in success, said Duncan Orrell-Jones, vice president of Walt Disney Internet Group Asia-Pacific
It is entering the tough Japanese market despite the failure of Disney Mobile in the United States, another MVNO which shut down at the end of last year.
The flop was mainly due to its business model in the US, "where we did everything on our own," Orrell-Jones said.
Disney, giving up a solo operation, decided to tie up with Softbank, which is a "much more powerful model that gives us collaboration across everything from handsets to service to distribution," he said.
He noted that Disney already has a strong following in Japan, where Tokyo Disneyland receives tens of millions of visitors every year.
Disney Mobile said it will target female subscribers in their 20s and 30s.
"We have enjoyed a great deal of success in Japan with our mobile content services catering to Japanese women," Paul Candland, president of Walt Disney Company Japan, said in a statement.
Disney is already a major content provider for mobile phones in Japan, with some 3.5 million people subscribing to its site of whom 75 percent are women over 20, he said.
In the United States, Disney Mobile marketed itself as a family-friendly mobile letting parents talk easily to children. But the MVNO with Sprint shut down after only a year and a half, with Disney finding it more profitable to sell its contents through other service providers.
Japan, a nation of 127 million people, has more than 100 million mobile phones in operation, spelling major challenges for service providers to achieve growth.
Japan's cell phone market is dominated by NTT DoCoMo, KDDI Corp. and Softbank Mobile, and launching a new service would require a massive initial investment.
Softbank, an Internet conglomerate, entered the field only in 2006 after a massive 15 billion-dollar purchase of British giant Vodafone's struggling Japanese unit.
AFP
1/23/2008
Disney unveiled its first mobile phones in Japan on Tuesday, saying the US entertainment gaint is "extremely confident" in success here after learning lessons from its flop in the US market.
Walt Disney Japan, the local unit of Walt Disney Co., said it would begin a new mobile telephone service, named "Disney Mobile," on March 1 together with Softbank Corp in line with their initial announcement in November.
Aimed at young working women, Disney Mobile will first offer three types of mobiles made by Japan's Sharp, whose outer package is covered with silhouette patterns of Mickey Mouse.
They also feature a special online bottom that will allow subscribers to jump to Disney websites, while Disney's iconic characters can be used on standby screens and to decorate e-mails free of charge.
Further details, including prices, were to be released later.
Disney will become Japan's first so-called mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), or a company that buys capacity from another firm to provide cellphone services.
"We are extremely confident" in success, said Duncan Orrell-Jones, vice president of Walt Disney Internet Group Asia-Pacific
It is entering the tough Japanese market despite the failure of Disney Mobile in the United States, another MVNO which shut down at the end of last year.
The flop was mainly due to its business model in the US, "where we did everything on our own," Orrell-Jones said.
Disney, giving up a solo operation, decided to tie up with Softbank, which is a "much more powerful model that gives us collaboration across everything from handsets to service to distribution," he said.
He noted that Disney already has a strong following in Japan, where Tokyo Disneyland receives tens of millions of visitors every year.
Disney Mobile said it will target female subscribers in their 20s and 30s.
"We have enjoyed a great deal of success in Japan with our mobile content services catering to Japanese women," Paul Candland, president of Walt Disney Company Japan, said in a statement.
Disney is already a major content provider for mobile phones in Japan, with some 3.5 million people subscribing to its site of whom 75 percent are women over 20, he said.
In the United States, Disney Mobile marketed itself as a family-friendly mobile letting parents talk easily to children. But the MVNO with Sprint shut down after only a year and a half, with Disney finding it more profitable to sell its contents through other service providers.
Japan, a nation of 127 million people, has more than 100 million mobile phones in operation, spelling major challenges for service providers to achieve growth.
Japan's cell phone market is dominated by NTT DoCoMo, KDDI Corp. and Softbank Mobile, and launching a new service would require a massive initial investment.
Softbank, an Internet conglomerate, entered the field only in 2006 after a massive 15 billion-dollar purchase of British giant Vodafone's struggling Japanese unit.