Disney offers teen-tracker mobile

Disney is launching a US service that will enable parents to monitor how their children use their mobile phones.

They will be able to track voice, text, video and picture messages and set limits on their children's calls.

The phone will also allow parents to locate where their children are via a global positioning system.

The entertainment giant hopes to target what is a niche but rapidly expanding market of mobile phone using children between 10 and 15 years old.

"This is still a growth stage market," said George Grobar, general manager of Disney Mobile.
Disney is targeting 20 to 30 million children with the new service.

The decision follows market research showing that parents wanted to be able to find out where their children are at specific moments and to talk to them.
'Big market for teenagers'

While the US mobile phone market is well established with 70% of the population already owning a phone, this figure is lower among teenagers.
About 45% to 50% of 13 year olds have a mobile phone, according to technology analysts Jupiter Research.

Just under two thirds of parents pay for their teenagers mobile phones.

"There is certainly a big market for teenagers and parents adding them to their [mobile] phone plan," said Jupiter analyst Julie Ask.
The new phones for parents, which will be sold over the internet, are expected to be available from June.

Disney has not yet revealed what it will charge for this service, but monthly fees from other providers are as little as $10 per month for each new family member.
This is the second specialised mobile phone service Disney is developing. The company launched a sports-based service in February at the annual American football extravaganza, the Super Bowl.

Mobile phone company Nokia predicted that the global mobile phone market will increase by 15% this year.

Sizing Up Mobile Advertising
MARCH 29, 2006

Little screen, big opportunity.

Although advertising on mobile phones is currently minuscule — in budgets as well as size dimensions — if marketers heed the recommendations of a new report from Magna Global, they will begin investigating this emerging channel now.

In fact, in a survey among ad:tech attendees, conducted in December 2005 by, Marketing Sherpa found that experimenting in mobile advertising tied for the top spot with video in a list of tactics advertisers would like to experiment with.

In the same poll, this time asking about actual spending plans, mobile/wireless tied for second place.

"With 2 billion mobile subscribers around the world, 20% annual subscriber growth, new networks capable of distributing video, improving handset capabilities, and rapid turnover of the handsets themselves, mobile phones may become the most pervasive devices able to access video content on a global basis," wrote David Wiser in the introduction to the Magna Global report. "With this footprint, we expect that advertising will ultimately play an important role in the mobile video world. The best opportunities to market to consumers in mobile environments will be through integrated mobile communications devices, and the industry will likely require ad-support to reach the widest possible audience."

The full potential of mobile advertising is still a little way off, primarily because the restricted audience size. However, this will change quickly and eMarketer projects that the number of 3G phone users who watch video worldwide will exceed 500 million by 2009. Even the more specialized audience within this group, those who watch broadcast TV on their phones, will grow to more than 100 million by 2009.

As eMarketer Senior Analyst, John Gauntt, recently wrote, "The challenge for marketers looking at mobile TV for the next two to three years is primarily one of learning about which mobile-native broadcast experiences consumers desire and the degree to which they are willing to accept marketing messages to subsidize or enhance this experience."
eMarketer believes the mobile broadcast video market will exhibit similar adoption and growth trends to those seen in the mobile music market. Mobile music did not take off until players were available that made music sound good, content providers released material that consumers wanted and Apple introduced a business model for digital music that made sense. Mobile TV will follow a similar pattern.