Disney Mobile Apps

I know it's only been a week but I missed my blogger bugs, so I couldn't stay away! I'm back!

In the early 20th century, cellular phones were one of the most improved phenomenons in technology with the emergence of smartphones. With it came "apps" and Disney quickly caught on to the trends the smartphones had created. Disney followed suit with the creation of Disney Mobile Apps, that proved just as "magical" and inventive as their other technological advances.

Where's My Water?, Where's My Perry?, Pirates of the Caribbean are some popular Disney apps!

Brief History: It all begin with Disney Interactive Media which is the division of Walt Disney Corp. that controls all online, mobile, and social media gateway to Disney. Back in the early 2000's previously known as the Walt Disney Internet Group (WDIG), it began its interest in the mobile market, first with Japan. It was initially set to create a Disney branded mobile content for the Asian market. As a trial for the release of what would be known as Disney Mobile, DisneyMobile.com was released in December 2003. It served as a portal for the Disney Mobile content project that Disney Interactive Media was working on. With the success, Disney Mobile was later released to fourteen more countries including Egypt, Spain, Australia and more. However, Disney Mobile was not stabilized and didn't find its set niche in the whirlpool of competition among other mobile apps until 2008. Under Disney and Japanese telecommunications corporation, SoftBank's deal, Disney Mobile had officially acquired a stable niche of direction and was able to appeal to a set scope of fans. In 2011 Disney purchased Tapulous, which is an American software and video game developer to focus on new game and apps for Disney Mobile. Ever since then, Disney has introduced many different apps and games that have found fans all over the world and targeting fans from children to teens generally. Some of the most popular Disney apps today include, Where's My Water?, Temple Run: Brave, Where's My Perry?, Disney Mobile Magic and many more.

Disney Moble Magic is an app that focuses primarily on the park itself and allows viewers to
check wait times, find out where the characters are inside the park, show times & many more.

Preview of Disney Mobile Magic & how it works

What makes it so successful: Disney has always had a strategic dynamic of working around the fans. As detailed in my previous posts, when it comes to mobile apps Disney runs the same game. Using familiar faces, Disney is able to grab pre-existing fans to bring support, but also generate more fans that simply enjoy the app. According to Jeffrey Grubb, reporter for Venture Beat, he claimed that Disney had made success again by borrowing familiar faces and story lines to promote apps such as the new app, Temple Run: Brave. With the movie release on June 22, 2012, it helped lure fans to download the app Temple Run: Brave, when it released on September 7, almost three months later. Within the first week, the app had climbed its way up to the #1 app of the opening week. Also, vice versa Disney is able to use Disney Apps to create a buzz or popularize an up-and-coming movie. Another one of Disney's strength is its ability to create memorable characters that fans will grow to like. For example, one of the first apps ever created, Where's My Water? features an alligator hero named Swampy and challenges players through brain-testing levels that requires precise timing and careful manipulation of the level elements. According to Stuart Dredge, a freelance journalist which specializes in online and mobile content, he claims that the creators of "Where's My Water" original aim was to "create a startup-like environment to develop the game, but then capitalize on Disney's network to promote it." Disney has had immense success in the past using memorable and easily relatable characters to capture audiences' hearts and support.

Promotional trailer for Temple Run: Brave

How technology has aided the success: With the creation of mobile apps, Disney was able to use the creation of apps on smartphones to further promote their other concentrations. For example, with the recent release of Frankenweenie, according to the Mobile Commerce Daily, "Disney also had two other apps to coincide with The Frankenweenie release. Disney made the promotion available to all smartphones, including Microsoft's mobile operating system." In addition, another example is the creation of using apps to create merchandise and ideas off of it. According to Disney Interactive representative, Mariam Sughayer, there will be an upcoming web series that features, "Swampy," the main character of "Where's My Water?." Disney is smart to not only use apps to help promote their films, characters, parks, etc, but they are also releasing apps on different programs. For example, Disney has apps that are made available both on Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play. Another improvement with Disney apps is a new app introduced around June this year that allows viewers to stream programs previously available on cable, LIVE onto your phone or tablet. The app will allow viewers to live stream and watch the Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior. Disney apps has proved that the improvement in technology can play to Disney's advantage if they play the cards right.

Using apps to promote the new movie Frankenweenie is another one of Disney's strategies 

With the popularity of the smartphone generation, I'm sure all of you blogger bugs have a smartphone, so what are you waiting for ?! Get to downloading some Disney apps! If you find a new app worth me downloading, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll give it a go.

In the meantime, enjoy this video on my new current obsession with this Disney App!

I'll be back in the new year my blogger bugs! Stay posted!

Sources:
http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-companies/disney-interactive-media-group
http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/31/disneys-suggests-wont-be-business-as-usual-at-lucasarts/
http://disneyparksmobile.com/
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/appsblog/2012/mar/15/disney-mobile-apps-swampy
https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/blog/hot-summer-disney-mobile-games

http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/13/3083336/disney-launches-streaming-apps-iphone-ipad-comcast

Disney Movies

How were the holidays, my little blogger bugs ?!

I'm back & inspired more than ever to share what I've been doing over my Thanksgiving break and time off from school. I've been catching up on my all time favorite Disney movies & it's reminded me that one of Disney's big startups and collision with technology all began with Disney's original movies.

   

Catch up with some of my personal Disney favorites!

Brief History: In early 1923, struggling animation creator Walt Disney created a short film called Alice Wonderland, which featured a young female child interacting with animated characters. Working with his brother Roy O. Disney, they were able to sign a contract with M. J. Winkler Productions, who produced a series known as, "Alice Comedies," based on Disney's original creation. Later that year on October 16, 1923, Walt and his brother Roy created The Disney Brothers Studio. This new animation studio with the continuous support of M. J. Winkler Productions created an all-cartoon series based on one of Disney's first original character, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. However, Disney later found more success with the creation of another original character, Mickey Mouse. On November 18, 1928, Steamboat Willie was released as the very first Mickey Mouse cartoon and immediately found success with audiences. In January 1929, Disney renamed their studio to the Walt Disney Studio as they continued to create more of Disney's original characters such as Donald Duck and animated films such as, The Band Concert. In 1934, Walt Disney began shifting its focus from animated cartoons towards full length features for the big screen. Disney found its first success with the 1937 release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. With the new technology of multiplane camera and full color Technicolor process, Walt Disney's features caught quick success. However, with World War II in 1940 creating a worldwide concern, Disney's features began to decline, losing viewers. In 1985, Disney decided to take another direction with the studio, focusing rather on animated musicals and using music to attract audiences and renamed their studios to Walt Disney Feature Animation. With the focus on music, Disney immediately found dramatic success with features such as The Little Mermaid (1989), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), and many more. However, as time progresses technology advances with it and calls for new ideas from the studios. Beginning in 2000, Disney decided to ditch their animated features for a more technological advanced originals featuring computer animation, including CGI, computer graphics imagery. In 2006, Disney learned they could not compete with the other studios already familiar with computer animation, so instead Disney bought Pixar Animation Studios. After acquiring Pixar, Disney renamed its studio one last time to Walt Disney Animation Studios, and remains as a separate studio from Pixar. Under this new acquisition, Disney was able to find success with their 3D movies, such as Chicken Little (2005), and Pixar's originals, such as Wall-E (2008). That ultimately leads us to Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pixar Animation Studios today, who continues to create classics for audiences everywhere including Brave (2012), Wreck-It Ralph (2012), and many more.

Walt Disney Animation Studios & Pixar Studios continue to dominate movie screens

What makes it so successful: As the years passed and the trends of society with children to teenagers have changed, Disney has always put in an effort to keep up with these trends. One of the strengths that Disney has consistently continued is their ability to target a specific audience. Whether movies such as Tangled are directed towards young female children or The Avengers directed towards adventure seeking children and adults, Disney always has a direct target audience when it comes to promoting their movies. According to The Setonian, "...latest Disney film brings out the kid in everyone," referring to Wreck-It Ralph. Another strategic factor that Disney has consistently continued are their plans to promote the music for the movies. Disney has always focused on making a memorable soundtrack that reminds audiences of the movie itself, while just listening to the music. According to Ariana Roussos, online Disney blogger, "The star power for the voices and the soundtrack alone would make all ages intrigued by the film." Music can speak louder than the film when it is just as memorable. Another strategic factor for Disney's success in movies falls under its ability to cast a familiar, known cast. In other words, Disney always implements known actors/actresses that already have a large fan base so fans can continue to support their favorite actors/actresses. In addition, Disney loves to keep it in the family, by re-using many of their Disney related celebrities from other Disney productions to feature in another Disney film. Another important factor is the ability of Disney to make sequels of a particular story, by bringing up familiar faces. According to Forbes, "To continue to grow at its current pace, Disney needs to keep producing films that are going to provide the company with opportunities of theme park attractions, TV spin-offs and lots and lots of merchandise." Disney has always played smart by using familiar background stories and familiar characters to create sequels, such as the Toy Story sequels and Pirates of the Carribbean sequels.

  

Disney continues to find success re-creating sequels to familiar faces

How technology has aided the success: One of the main changes in technology was the increase in popularity of 3D movies. As time progressed, audiences didn't want to just watch a movie feature, they wanted to experience what the characters in the movie were actually experiencing. Take The Lion King 3D re-release for example. It's September 2011 re-release to the big screen has claimed that box office opening weekend with a sweeping $29.3 million. According to CNN, "In 'The Lion King's' original theatrical run, it roared up a stunning $312.9 million total, becoming the highest-grossing animated film in box office history at that time. The film earned another $15.7 million during a 2002 re-release, and now another $29.3 million during the first weekend of its two-week run. All told, Simba and company have grossed $357.8 million in theaters domestically over the last two decades." With it's success, Disney has followed suit to what the viewers like. According to The Huffington Post, after the success of The Lion King 3D, Disney has agreed to re-release 4 more Disney films in 3D including, Finding Nemo (2012), Beauty and the Beast (2012), Monsters Inc (2013), and The Little Mermaid (2013). In addition to its re-release in 3Ds, Disney has also seen the success of Disney movies with computer animation. When it comes to CGI concentration, Pixar has always found the main success with Disney. According to Forbes, Pixar currently accounts for 7 out of the company's 15 highest grossing films of all time. Pixar has found favor with the viewers as they find the images on the screen more crisp and the effects much more believable as compared to Disney's previous animated films.

Disney found immediate success with the re-release of The Lion King 3D

Hope I've inspired you to go and look up your favorite Disney features as well!
If you find some spare time, take a stroll down to your local movie theater and give Wreck-It Ralph a chance, which I heard is going to be an instant Disney classic!
Toodles my darlings, until next time!

Sources: 
http://www.disneyanimation.com/studio/ourstudio
http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about-disney/disney-history
http://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2012/08/28/disneys-success-and-the-death-of-mid-budget-movies/
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/19/showbiz/movies/lion-king-box-office/index.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/04/disney-re-releasing-films-3d_n_994701.html

Disney's Video Games

HELLO my little blogger bugs! I'm here for a quick update, before the Thanksgiving weekend!

With Thanksgiving weekend approaching, I know many of you will be looking forward to just staying home, sleeping in, and avoiding all the schoolwork. Well, I know many of you, like myself, will be cuddled up at home, looking for new video games to play. Thus, today's blog is based on Disney's Video Games!

 

Using familiar faces & stories to encourage fans' ongoing support with examples Aladdin, Tangled & Tron

Disney has done it again! With the success of it's already branded characters, Disney relies heavily on it's large existing fan base to bring themselves into the video game industry. Today, Disney has over 100 video games ever published and licensed and continues their success relying on Disney's new television shows, celebrities, attractions, movies, and more. In another words, whatever existing Disney brand exists, keep a look out for a new video game that will come out soon based on it!

Brief History: It began back in 1988 when Disney decided to expand its efforts into the video game industry by creating the Walt Disney Computer Software. This particular gaming unit targeted third party development studios to design games based on pre-existing Disney characters. It was the first attempt from Walt Disney Corp, to focus on the internal development and publishing of video games and computer. However, Walt Disney Computer Software lacked the knowledge between differentiating marketing structures for video games vs. movies, and thus, had little success. Although, Walt Disney Computer Software did find some popularity with video games such as Aladdin (1993) and The Lion King (1993). In 1996, Walt Disney Computer Software was shut down and reorganized as Disney Interactive. Disney Interactive had a specific scope of genre as it focused heavily on educational video games designed primarily for children. In comparison to Walt Disney Computer Software, it found much more success with educational games such as Disney's Animated Storybook: 101 Dalmations (1996) and Disney's Activity Center: Toy Story (1996). Disney Interactive eventually continued to build success with its video games reaching out to gamers of an older generation. Thus, on March 14, 2003, Buena Vista Games was released, which focused on all other content, other than children's video games. Over several years, Buena Vista Games had partnered up with many other existing gaming studios such as Climax Racing, Avalanche Software, and many more. In 2005, Buena Vista Games announces that they will be broadening their video games from children and family games to teens and more core games. It wasn't until 2007, it was renamed once more to what exists today known as, Disney Interactive Studios. As of today, the studio produces video games that are both Disney and non-Disney video games that are published on all platforms worldwide, including North America, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and many more.

              

Disney's Video Game studios has changed names and logos throughout the years

How successful it really is: One of the tricks that Disney has always been accustomed to was to build on the existing fans of a particular character or familiar image, such as Mickey Mouse, or a specific Disney princess. Thus, with video games, Disney continues it's strategies. Disney focuses many of its video games on preexisting characters so gamers are familiar with the background story and feel somewhat more connected to the players and characters of the game. Although as smart of a marketing strategy it is, as compared to the rest of the Walt Disney Corp. it is easy to say that Disney's focus on its video games has been the least successful. Although, Disney is smart to find a set niche of gamers from all ages, primarily targeting the younger ages, they have discovered that the Walt Disney Corp, has the least success in this area of focus. According to John G. Taylor of Arcadia Investment Corp, "One of the surprises of the last three or four years was how unproductive most of their movie-related titles were... There's got to be a better way to do this." With lack of substantial success, Disney has found it's success more so in online games and mobile games, which I will touch on in a later post. However, Disney still keeps its video game industry alive, because it has still has a set niche of fans who continue to support and buy these products, based on the background and previous success with the movie/character/etc.

Can Disney attract more gamers with its new most anticipated video game, which releases this week on November 18, 2012, Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2

How technology has aided the survival and success: Disney had accustomed to following the general trends of the technology behind different video game consoles as it has evolved over the years. One of the first gaming consoles available was the Game & Watch (G&W) which was a line of handheld electronic game, created by Nintendo from 1980 to 1991. Some of the first Disney games introduced for G&W included Mickey Mouse and Mickey & Donald. Around 1988, more games were featured from Disney to accommodate for the then popular video game console, Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Games such as DuckTales (1989) and The Little Mermaid (1991). Again as technology continued to change, so did Disney's video games. Around 1997, with the approach of the Nintendo Game Boy, more games were created such as Mickey's Racing Adventure (1999) and Disney's Beauty & The Beast: A Boardgame Adventure (1999). It wasn't until major releases such as Playstation 2, GameCube, Nintendo DS, Playstation 3 and WII that came out in the 21st century that Disney began to release video games on many consoles at once, instead of focusing on one specific console. One of the most popular games that caught attention from an older crowd was Kingdom Hearts (2002), which was a combination of Disney fans and Final Fantasy fans that ultimately pulled through to its older gamers. It gained huge success through Playstation 2 and Nintendo DS. As of today, it has over five sequels to the game and continues to grab fans from the niche of it's previous games. However, as technology continues to change, it is no different that Disney will continue to follow its gamers to the next generation and continue to bring new animated games to life depending on where technology takes us in the future.

One of Disney's highest grossing video games, Kingdom Hearts

Remember my blogger bugs, with Thanksgiving weekend coming, I hope I've inspired all of you to look into the wide range of Disney's video games and find your favorites to play! As for me, I've got my eyes set on the new Epic Mickey 2: The Power of 2!
GOBBLE, GOBBLE, UNTIL NEXT TIME ! Have a splendid Thanksgiving !

Sources:
http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios/company.html
http://www.mobygames.com/company/disney-interactive-studios/history
http://www.allgame.com/company.php?id=391
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/26/business/la-fi-ct-disney-interactive-20110126

Disney Channel

Miss me, my blogger bugs?!!

I hope not because I'm back & today we're talking about television and how Disney has used television as an outlet of technological advance as well!

"The Disney Channel is probably the best run of all the businesses at Disney,"  -Richard Bilotti, a Morgan Stanley analyst

With the success of the character Mickey Mouse and his friends, Walt Disney Productions knew that in order to keep their brand fresh in everyone's minds and popular, they believed they had to bring their materials from the studios onto TV. Thus, this lead to the creation of Disney Channel!

                  

                             Logo from 1997 to 2002                                                                                        Logo from 2002 to today

Click on either logos to check your local listings today!


Brief History: Sticking by their brand, Walt Disney Productions launched their very first family-oriented cable channel in April 1983. The channel originally aired shows that emphasized family value issues and goals and in the beginning, included TV series such as "The Baby-Sitters Club," "Flash Forward," and "Vault Disney" and many more. While they focused largely on families as their main audience, the original shows that were aired were also geared towards younger children. It wasn't until 1997 that Disney Channel began to target preteens and older children. While still airing family-oriented shows, Disney began to create more shows such as "Bug Juice," "Jett Jacksons," and more. Around 2001, Disney noticed that their ratings had increased due to the creation of many of the new preteen shows and discovered that less viewers tuned in for the classic Disney programs. On September 16, 2002, "Vault Disney" and the original classic Disney programs had been discontinued and Disney Channel focused primarily on its new original programming such as "Lizzie McGuire," "Even Stevens," and many more, which targeted teenagers and an overall older crowd. In 2007, Disney Channel scrapped up many of its re-runs that aired regularly and dedicated its channel to creating new episodes of many more original programmings and has remained that way up until today.

 

Some of the most popular preteen shows on around 2001

What makes it so successful: While Disney Channel has found fans from all ages, many still can't seem to wrap their finger around what exactly the phenomenon is. People are curious as to what draws young and older viewers alike to the programs. According to Anne Sweeney, president of the Disney Channel Worldwide and of the ABC Cable Networks Group, she gets her answers from her 10 year old son. She states, "Kids his age were dabbling with MTV but feeling it was too old for them and they weren't enjoying shows for much younger kids." Because Disney Channel offers shows from all ages, I personally believe that's where they get all their viewers and success. Each age group has an appropriate set of programs that are friendly for their age group and airs at a time when they are most present in front of the TV set. Ultimately I believe what makes Disney Channel so successful is that different variety of shows it has to offer along with the young cast it promotes. Because the stars of the shows are similar in age to the viewers, it makes a lot easier for viewers to relate with. In addition, ever since Disney has began creating their own originals, it has generated fans specifically to their brand.    

How technology has aided the success and evolved over the years: Disney Channel was originally a premium cable channel, meaning viewers actually had to pay a separate fee to subscribe to this specific cable channel. Walt Disney Corp. created Disney Channel under a premium cable channel in order to generate revenue. Disney also took a risk to discover just how demanding their channel would be. However, it worked to Disney's advantage. According to CNN Money's Julia Boorstin, she reported that in 2003 Disney Channel's margins was 50%. This meant that Disney Channel generated about half of the Disney cable networks' $1 billion operating income last year alone. In other words, Disney Channel has proved to be one of Disney's largest cash cows. Success with technology can be accredited to 1997 when Disney although was making profit from setting Disney Channel as a premium cable channel, decided to direct their attention towards a basic cable channel. By converting to a basic cable channel, they do lose money from subscribers, but at the same time it has aided them into gaining more recognition and fans from all over the world and not just the U.S.  

One of the most successful preteen shows Disney Channel has seen, Hannah Montana

I'll be back soon enough, TOODLES, until next time!

Sources:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2003/09/29/349896/index.htm
http://articles.latimes.com/1990-12-09/business/fi-8388_1_disney-channel
http://allyourdisneychannelneeds345.blogspot.com/2009/06/hannah-montana-jakeanother-little-piece.html

Radio Disney

Hello my little blogger bugs !
These lyrics sound familiar?

"I can show you the world, shining, shimmering splendid."

"Under the sea, darling it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me."

"It means no worries for the rest of your days, It's our problem - free philosophy. Hakuna Matata!"

Without the technological creation of the radio, there would be no Radio Disney. These lyrics and songs would have only been available when the movies were actually playing. As technology improved, Disney kept up right alongside with the addition of Radio Disney!

Click here to try Radio Disney for yourself!

Brief History: Launched on November 18, 1996, (Mickey Mouse's birthday), Radio Disney played music primarily from their Disney original productions. It was created because of the legacy Disney has when it comes to music! Also, Disney wanted to give children their own radio station, where they could listen to music more appropriate for their age group (ages 6 to 14). It initially promoted many popular oldies and eventually opened up to the "Top 40" stations, which included artists such as Backstreet Boys, Christina Aguilera, and more. The radio station like most radio stations featured music, alongside prize giveaways for ages 12 and under, and even in-studio interviews. As of 2012, today Radio Disney features music from Disney's own productions and films, alongside many a large selection of music from Disney Channel's stars and shows, and also many Top-40 songs, which are made more "kid-friendly." As technology improved, radio's accessibility in the cars and on the go, helped Disney extend their musical talents far more than just CD's and live performances. 

Radio Disney helped promote many Disney Channel's

stars by playing their music, such as the cast of High School Musical

What makes it so successful: According to FMQB, Jill Casagrande, radio programmer on Radio Disney, believes success comes from parents who know that Radio Disney is branded and owned by Walt Disney Co. They can trust that the music on Radio Disney will always be kid friendly! I agree because modern day radio stations feature music that has explicit language and promotes many promiscuous lifestyles. Therefore, I believe parents can trust that Radio Disney will play music that are parents approved for their children. In addition, Radio Disney is very accessible, whether from there 42 radio stations available on both FM and AM channels, or from the internet, or from a digital cable provider. I think because Disney sticks so strongly to their brand towards children, their radio station would prove no different!

How technology has aided the success: With the introduction of radio, Radio Disney was able to offer music from original productions promoting the popularity of original soundtracks from movies and TV shows alike. Another one of the main improvements from technology is being able to stream live music online. Being able to play Radio Disney whenever someone wanted, without being in a car or watching a Disney movie helped generate the success of streaming music online. According to Radiodisney.com, because Radio Disney does not have channels for every city in every state, for example, Washington D.C, the ability to stream Radio Disney online has attracted more listeners and fans. Alongside streaming music online, Disney has also relied on subscription radio and TV to promote Radio Disney. For example, Radio Disney is available on Sirius XM Radio and a few other Digital Cable providers. Also, Disney was able to rely on Radio Disney to promote many of Disney Channel's stars and their music. By attracting the same audience, it easier to promote new music and new soundtracks, because there is already a large fan base.

Radio Disney also promotes LIVE performances, including Selena Gomez's Who Says

I'm out until next time, my little blogger bugs !

Sources:
http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=438849
http://disney.go.com/radiodisneybeta/

Hi my little blogger bugs =)
My name is Joy Chuang and I'm going to dedicate my very first blog to something I love and grew up with! DISNEY =)

Here's a little preview of what you can expect...
What started initially as a wild imagination of Walt Disney, the Disney brand has now grown into a billion dollar corporation sensation. Disney has branched out into far more than just a theme park, a childhood favorite character, and a TV show. Today, Disney has grown into a successful media conglomerate and I would like to research on their success. Primarily I am going to focus my blog on how dependent they are to the modern technology and how much it is really affecting the company. I will research on the technology Disney uses, such as their TV channels, radio station, websites, movies, music, and more. I hope to give my readers a little insight behind the magic and to prove just how much Disney has improved in time, along with the technological advances of modern society. I also hope to give them a little perspective behind just how much work it takes to manage a large successful company like Disney and the kind of role technology is playing.

So if you're a fan of Disney, take this magical journey with me, as I dig into the magic of technology behind what REALLY makes Disney, Disney!