Disney Dour on US Mobile; Games Don't Rock; Users Don't Use
Disney Internet Group is not expecting its US operations to approach its success in Japan anytime in the near future, one of their executives told me. The guess here is that things will change when color phones saturate the market. One in every three cell phones in the US will have a color display within 6 months, according to Seamus McAteer at Zelos Group, a San Francisco-based technology consulting firm.
Wrap-up report from the West Coast
— Reported by Michael Thuresson
THQ Wireless, a division of L.A. entertainment software maker THQ, now has 50 game titles in the US, up from 20 a year ago (see last week’s Wireless Notes). They told me one area they are working on is helping the carriers train their retail salespeople on how to get people to sign up for data services when buying a phone. This has been a problem, apparently.
THQ Wireless, which is known for its sports games, has had games running in Japan through Cybird since December, but they told me the performance has been disappointing so far. The content must be updated frequently to keep pace with the ultra-competitive market – taking more of their resources – and is sold at a lower price than their US games. The US market, though still small, offers bigger margins.
Verizon claims to have sold over a million BREW handsets in the US since last September, but a good portion of people with these aren’t using data at all.
— MT