Mickey Goes Mobile

location based services

Disney releases details of its cell phone service for this June.
April 5, 2006

Hoping to ease parental worries over cell phone usage by children, the Walt Disney company will launch a Disney Mobile cell phone service in June that includes a parent monitoring system, the company said Wednesday.



The Mickey mobile service will have a “Family Monitor” and “Call Control” services that allow parents to monitor kids with a GPS device and set limits on children’s text messaging, voice calls, and downloads, Disney spokesperson Tim Schramm said.



The service will be available this summer over the Sprint network on two phones, made by South Korean companies Pantech and LG. LG showed off a bright-red clam-shell phone for the service in Las Vegas at CTIA, the largest wireless convention.



While the service was announced last year, details of the branded service have been scarce until now (see Disney Plans Cellular Service).



The Disney phones will allow parents to set limits on a child’s usage, and when the limit is reached parents will receive a text message alert, said Mr. Schramm.


‘This is going to be big.’

-Kenneth Hyers,

ABI Research






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Parents can then choose to extend or deny service, though the phones will allow emergency calls even if service is denied, said Mr. Schramm.



The service could strike a chord with parents concerned about children racking up spending charges for digital content and voice calls.



Disney Mobile phones will also use an embedded GPS chip to enable a tracking-style service.



Any parent would pay for the magic ability to find out where their kid is, said ABI Research’s Kenneth Hyers in a recent interview. Verizon Wireless is expected to launch a similar service this summer (see Verizon to Help Track Kids).



So-called location-based services are a topic of much discussion at the wireless convention, with wireless operators like Verizon finally launching services this year (see Verizon Navigates LBS Market).



For years location-based services have caused concern among the mobile phone companies, but the entrance of a family-friendly big brand like Disney can go a long way to calm their anxiety.



‘Verizon doesn’t adopt a technology lightly. This is going to be big,” said Mr. Hyers.



Branded Mobile
Disney’s mobile service is not the company’s first try as a mobile virtual network operator, called MVNO in the wireless industry. The company launched ESPN Mobile recently for sports-fan dads.



MVNOs are an increasingly popular way that brands can leverage the power of mobile, and target a niche demographic.



On Tuesday the “Flying J” highway hospitality provider announced it would launch an MVNO service targeted at the trucker set.



However, MVNOs are also the latest fad, and analysts predict many will fail.



Sprint has been the most aggressive carrier to make deals with wireless brands, a strategy which the carrier will use to compete from third place.



Sprint COO Len Lauer said in an interview last month that the company made a strategic move to embrace third parties like MVNOs, while competitors like Verizon and Cingular still see MVNOs as part-time competitors.