M-I-C...K-E-Y...M-O-U-S-E!

Have you ever read something and the first thought rushing to your head is "How completely unnecessary!"?? I get it, cell phone companies, and Disney, and pretty much everyone else in the world, are looking to make money in new and enticing ways for the consumer to buy into it. I'm sorry, the last time I went to Disney Land, which coincidentally was last year, I didn't need an interactive map via my cell phone to enjoy it, and I certainly was okay without hearing clips of Goofy or Mickey saying hi. If I wanted to hear them, I could have waited in line with all the little kids in Toon Town. But I bet it makes money...

Can You Hear Me Now, Mickey Mouse?

by: Laura M. Holson

Hey Mom! It’s Mickey Mouse calling!

The Walt Disney Co. and Verizon Wireless are teaming up to offer Verizon customers voice messages from beloved characters like Goofy and Buzz Lightyear, as well as interactive maps of the entertainment company’s theme parks.

Why? According to Scott Trowbridge, vice president of creative research and development at Walt Disney Imagineering, Disney will offer a downloadable application which will help visitors to navigate Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif., and Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla. The application will include interactive maps, give customers real-time show information, allow them to access mobile games and receive messages from characters. Verizon users too will have access to calendars to plan their stay and a place to store and share photographs from their Disney vacation.

For Disney, it is a way to engage customers using new interactive technologies, a priority of Robert Iger, Disney’s chief executive. Verizon, for its part, hopes it will make their wireless service that much more attractive to parents and mobile phone-toting kids.

Neither Disney nor Verizon have determined what the application will cost. (Disney will offer a stripped-down version for free to all wireless customers.)

Verizon and Disney plan to offer the new service in the first quarter of 2009. Talks between the companies started about ten months ago and will require Verizon to bolster its network capacity.

As part of the agreement, Verizon said it would place more cell towers closer to the parks to ensure customers have good reception while riding the Mad Tea Party teacups.