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Disney Plans to Launch Mobile Phone Service in Japan
According to a Reuters report, Walt Disney Co. will begin
mobile- phone services in Japan in spring next year using
Softbank Corp.'s network, relying on the popularity of characters
such as Mickey Mouse to win customers in the $81 billion market.
Disney, which plans to halt its U.S.-based mobile phone service
at the end of the year, is betting on the popularity of its
Tokyo resort to help it gain share in the world's biggest
market of third-generation phones.
Disney will develop mobile phone handsets with Softbank Mobile
and sell them, and accept subscriptions through the Japanese
mobile phone operator's nationwide sales network, the sources
said.
The tie-up with Disney would secure Softbank stable revenues
from leasing unused basebands, but Disney's entrance into
Japan increases competition in an already-saturated mobile
market, the report says.
(November 14, 2007)
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