Another MVNO Bites The Dust
This time it’s Disney’s family-centric MVNO that’s calling it quits.
By the looks of things, it appears as if 2007 is the year of death for MVNOs. Is the MVNO a doomed business model?
I could make snide jokes about the power of The Mouse, but I won’t. The truth is, it’s sad to see another wireless company fail at making a go of things.
The Walt Disney Co. today announced that it will shut down its Disney MVNO, with operations set to cease on December 31.
Current customers can continue their service until that deadline. Disney is working on setting up a reimbursement program for qualifying members, but full details of that have not been released yet.
The MVNO was run by the Walt Disney Internet Group. Based on its recent recommendation to the Walt Disney board, the decision was made to close the venture because of industry competition.
The MVNO model has proven, as we’ve seen with other companies this past year, to be a difficult proposition in the hyper-competitive U.S. mobile phone market.
In assessing our business model, we decided that changing strategies was a better alternative to pursue profitable growth in the mobile services area.
-Steve Wadsworth, president of the Walt Disney Internet Group.
The Walt Disney Internet Group pitched the idea of licensing out its Family Center suite to other carriers in a manner similar to ESPN’s licensing deals.
However, with two of the four major wireless carriers already offering similar services, Disney might face an uphill battle on that front.
With Amp’d Mobile recently unplugging, and ESPN Mobile whiffing at bat — both companies with major backers — it’s hard not to question the MVNO business model. Can it really be successful?
Helio doesn’t seem to be doing that badly (though it is burning through a hell of a lot of cash). Virgin Mobile USA and others have been around for a while.
Clearly there is some formula for getting it right. It seems finding that formula is the real key.
Google Shows Off GWT Apple iPhone Tools
The team behind the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) have released a handy little article on how to develop web applications for the iPhone using GWT.
First off the block is the GWT Feed Reader, a feed reader interface optimized for the Apple iPhone.
Don’t let the name fool you. This isn’t an iPhone-optimized Google Reader site, rather it combines the Google AJAX Feed API with a user interface geared for use on the iPhone.
But because, frankly, it blows the pants of the the existing Google Reader mobile interface, I really wish it was a Google Reader interface.
However, the Google AJAX Feed API lacks many of the features found in Google Reader - like search.
Still, if you’re a developer looking to build an iPhone optimized version of your site, GWT could help kick start your efforts.
The blog post says that “the primary take-away from this project is to say this: the Google Web Toolkit can be used to create applications that, in the same code base, work well on an iPhone and a traditional desktop browser.”
Twitter Now Offers Global Alerts
Twitter has unveiled a new global tracking option that allows you to get messages based on term rather than user.
For example, you can now subscribe to be notified any time anyone posts a public twit about “Laptops.”
At the moment the new feature only works through IM and text messaging, though the company says it plans to roll out the feature over RSS, e-mail and even in the API in the near future.
To use the keyword tracking you’ll need to set up your phone to use Twitter and then send a command like “track Laptop.”
Any time someone posts a public twitter using the word “Laptop” you’ll be notified. To unsubscribe the command is “untrack Laptop,” or to turn off all tracking send “track off.”
Presumably you can turn all your tracks back on with “track on” though the Twitter blog doesn’t explicitly mention this option.
To get a list of what you’re tracking send “tracks.”
The new features give Twitter users the ability to track topics somewhat similar to the way many use Technorati to tracks blog topics.
However, there are a number of things missing that I feel would make the new service much more useful.
A good example would be the ability to track terms by user.
In other words would only get notices when selected users post selected terms. Without that sort of fine-grained control the new features may well produce more noise than signal.
But despite some shortcomings, the new features add a whole other dimension to the service and make it significantly more useful.
New Kids Video Game Teaches About Health
Kaiser Permanente has developed a free online game that teaches 9- and 10-year-olds about healthy eating and exercise.
This new video game is called “The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective“:
The game takes a novel approach from most arcade games. After playing for about 20 minutes, the game locks players out and won’t unlock for another hour.
“Kids in America spend too much time in front of the TV, and the messages they get there about eating, activity, and role models are all the wrong (ones),” said Ray Baxter, senior vice president for community benefit at Kaiser Permanente.
“Finger-wagging and telling kids to eat more green vegetables is not going to work. You’ve got to change the environment and change the message.”
The purpose is to get kids to stop playing computer games and go outside for some fresh air and exercise.
The game teaches kids how to read food labels, how to measure the amount of sugar in drinks and other health skills.
Source: Reuters
Google celebrates 9th Birthday
Happy 9th Birthday Google!
May all your non-evil birthday wishes come true!
Apple iPhone Boosts Google Maps Usage
It would appear Google owes Steve Jobs a round of beers.
According to GigaOm, the iPhone has boosted the popularity of Google Maps like never before.
While she didn’t give specific numbers, Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products, told Om that the company saw a significant uptick in Google Maps usage shortly after the iPhone release in July.
That trend has continued for the past two months, Mayer said, and “maps usage hasn’t stopped rising.”
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for YouTube, another iPhone feature Apple has promoted heavily.
Meyer says that the phone’s YouTube functionality has not caused any major upsurge in video viewing.
Of course, that may be attributable to YouTube’s already gigantic user base, but AT&T’s slow-as-molasses EDGE network certainly isn’t helping matters.