Disney Mobile Confident of Success in Japan Despite Failing in America
After flopping in America, Disney Mobile is hoping to capitalize off the fact that almost anything with a Mickey logo on it will sell in Japan:
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.
