This doesn't mark the first time (nor will it be the last) that we've seen a handset totally disregard the Mickey Mouse and / or Apple trademarks, but it's probably the only instance where both were violated on the same phone. We don't really know much about the mobile you see pictured above -- well, aside from the gratuitous use of big ears and well known fruit -- but it's probably worth hitting the read link for a couple more images alone.

[Via textually]

From the same e-tailer that brought you the CECT Wrist comes a not-exactly-Disney-approved handset that looks strangely similar to that really famous rodent. Yes friends, the Mouse Phone makes exactly zero mention of Disney in the description (yet slaps a logo on the inside), undoubtedly plans on playing $0.00 in royalties and even tries to dodge that ever-vigilant legal team by slanting the eyes and throwing on a Mii-style schnoz. The flip-open mobile features GSM connectivity, a 1.3-inch 160 x 128 resolution display, FM tuner, a built-in multimedia player and a 1.3-megapixel camera. Oh, and a wickedly exotic lanyard, too. All that for just £115.74 ($229) -- get one while they're still on sale!

[Via Gizmodiva]

Apparently satisfied enough with its first model to take another stab at the Japanese market, Softbank MVNO Disney Mobile is trotting out another Sharp-sourced model, the DM002SH. The Cinderella-themed flip is targeted squarely at the fairer sex, coming reasonably well-equipped with wide QVGA resolution on its 2.6-inch primary display, 2 megapixel camera, microSD slot, an OLED external display, and one-seg TV tuner. As far as we can tell, there's also precisely zero shortage of Cinderella media -- movies, ringtones, and the like -- so owners really need only to pick up the crystal slippers to complete the package. It'll be available starting June 7 in silver, pink, and gold, just like the original DM001SH.

[Via Akihabara News]

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again -- preferably on a different continent. That's the attitude Disney is taking with its Disney Mobile MVNO, shutting down its poorly-received US service and heading over to Japan where Softbank is serving up the necessary airwaves this time around. The target demo is decidedly different now, too -- whereas the US service was aimed at families with young kiddies, the Japanese rendition is targeting women in their 20s and 30s, seen as prime consumers of Disney content. The first handset to support Disney Mobile will be the DM001SH, a reworked version of Sharp's 821SH for Softbank that features 3G data, a 2 megapixel cam, 400 x 240 internal and 60 x 32 external displays, one-seg mobile TV, FeliCa, and no shortage of Mickey Mouse branding. All told, we'd say it's just a tad hotter than the carrier's now-deceased US offerings. Look for the service to launch March 1.

[Via Tech-On!]

You know what they say: nothing gets you over the last one like the next one. Apparently, Disney is totally signed on to the aforementioned mantra, as just under seven weeks after Disney Mobile hung its US-based ears in shame, the Japanese unit of Walt Disney Company will reportedly be firing up similar operations in its neck of the woods. Apparently, the outfit has "reached a basic agreement" with Softbank Mobile to lease telecom networks and start providing nationwide service to those interested. Furthermore, it will be buddying up with Softbank to "develop handsets and consign its output to other companies," and if all goes to plan, Disney hopes to sign up "more than one million subscribers." Oh, and if that wasn't enough to make you scrounge up that decade-old Mickey Mouse figurine and give it a long overdue hug, users of the service will also have exclusive access to "animated film downloads." Regrettably, there's no word on an actual launch date just yet, but we'll be keeping a (grossly oversized) set of ears to the ground.

[Via Yahoo / Reuters]

Perhaps Disney hoped that its MVNO bearing the corporate name would fare a little better than its doomed sibling, Mobile ESPN, but it was not to be. Making good on some ominous verbiage last week from CFO Thomas Staggs, Disney Mobile has announced that it will "cease its wireless operations" as of December 31, 2007. MVNOs have generally had a tough time navigating through the dog-eat-dog world of profitable wireless service, and Disney Mobile was dogged from the very beginning with tough competition on kid-friendly features and hardware from larger rivals and a dearth of quality handsets. Though it seems that existing subscribers will be able to continue to use most or all features of the service through then, folks are being encouraged to pack their bags and move elsewhere by November 30 to ensure plenty of time to get numbers ported. Furthermore, hardware purchased directly through Disney Mobile will be subject to a reimbursement of some sort, with details going up early next month.

[Thanks, Paul D.]

In today's day and age, playing the MVNO game is a bit of a challenge. Some can't keep their head above water, others need a life raft, and a select few can actually stay afloat on their own. Disney's CFO Thomas Staggs -- who spoke at Merrill Lynch's Media and Entertainment Conference recently -- alluded that Disney was in the process of evaluating "where it sits" because of "some challenges" having the Disney Mobile brand distributed. "It's still too early to determine any losses for the MVNO," he concluded. With a variety of services targeted at kids filtering through virtually every mainstream carrier these days, does Disney still have a solid business model to work with?

[Via mocoNews]

If these clamshells are looking a little familiar, that's because they are. Disney Mobile's new DM-S105 and DM-S110 are clones not just of each other -- the only difference is the color, it seems -- but also of Sprint's M300 released a couple months back. Features include a VGA cam, Bluetooth, and internal antenna (a first for Disney, believe it or not) with data topping out at 1xRTT speeds. By any other carrier's standards these suckers would barely be worth a mention, but for Disney... well, these are your new Cadillacs. Get 'em now for $20 after contract and rebate.

[Via Phone Scoop]

We love when a carrier or MVNO announces that a "heap" of new features is about to be released; it's sort of like winning the lottery, but with more marketing mumbo-jumbo and less cash. It seems the kid-friendly MVNO Disney Mobile wants to sell more handsets to parents and is about to add several new handset features just in time for that busy summer mommy season. Among them are the new "scout" feature that will locate and show points of interest (using GPS positioning, we suspect), one-click photo uploading to a shared family photo area and a "family calendar" feature in late 2007 or 2008 that will push PC-created calendar entries and changes directly to the Disney Mobile handset. Disney Mobile still does not plan to add any EV-DO phones ($99 is the magic price point there, it seems), so your kindergartner's high-speed 3G data will have to wait for now.

[Via mocoNews]

One of the lovely perks of existing as a tiny entity within a global megacorporation is that you can be a little coy with your public disclosure and get away with it. That's exactly the game kid-friendly Disney Mobile is playing as it gears up to celebrate its first anniversary, completely ignoring the burning question of subscriber count to concentrate on inane stats like how many people use its GPS tracking services (30 percent, by the way) and the balance of adult users to kids (56 to 44 percent). Sub count is particularly interesting here for a couple reasons: first, all eyes are on the still-maturing MVNO market as players try to find their niches and stake their claims against the big guys, and second, stablemate ESPN Mobile bit the dust last year for lack of interest. To be fair, Disney Mobile's target demographic is utterly different than ESPN's was -- and kiddie phones seem to be hot items these days -- so it's entirely possible all's well in the Magic Kingdom; until Disney decides to release more deets or the division closes up shop, though, it's all speculation.

[Via Techdirt]

We don't really know the back story on China's "Omnipotence" brand, but seeing how it's apparently going after the luxury phone segment with a vaguely Vertu-esque logo and resides in a country with a particularly freewheeling attitude toward patent and trademark law, we're already a bit skeptical about the legitimacy of the licensing agreements (or lack thereof) that led to the phone's Disney and BMW (yes, BMW) branding. Nonetheless, there'll only be 130 of the 10 millimeter thick candybars produced, each bearing Disney-themed software goodies (never mind the company's misspelling of "Mickey") and a dubious "Design by BMW in Munich" inscription on the back -- so get yours while the gettin's good. Features include a 1.3 megapixel cam, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD expansion, touch sensitive nav buttons, and some sort of alleged certificate of authenticity from BMW. One point three frickin' megapixels, though? In a so-called luxury phone?

[Via electro^plankton]

Whoa Nellie. The folks who scooped Disney's ESPN-branded cellphone service -- MobileESPN -- are now calling for "big changes" in the MVNO. According to Rafat Ali and Staci Kramer who cite "numerous sources," the doomed MobileESPN MVNO is set for "a phased winding down/transition, or getting sold" outright this week, just before Disney's fiscal year draws to a close. A spokeswoman for MobileESPN confirmed an announcement was coming, most likely on Thursday, and that staff would not be laid off this week contrary to rumors. Merrill Lynch already asked Disney to pull the plug in a research note published back in July estimating that MobileESPN had only snagged 30,000 of the 240,000 anticipated subscribers since its Superbowl launch representing a loss of some $135 million for The Mouse. All this is potentially bad news for the likes of Amp'd Mobile and Helio who may be in for an MVNO backlash on The Street where investor sentiment is already pretty low. Oh BJ, not you and the Bear too?

Update: Just minutes after we posted the article above, Disney officially dropped the ax on MobileESPN, and the happiest place on earth is just a little bit gloomier today. According to an open letter on the MobileESPN homepage, cellular service will stop as of December 21st, although all that great content that you handful of subscribers have come to enjoy day in and day out will soon be available through one of the major carriers. Meanwhile, existing customers are free to drop the service anytime before the end of the year without penaltly, and once your bills are all paid up, the soon-to-be-defunct MVNO will refund the full cost of your handset. Epitaph: MobileESPN, we had such high hopes for ye, but your glass jaw made a first round KO inevitable. R.I.P, sweet, failed telecom experiment.

[Via GigaOM]

As MVNOs seemingly struggle to gain traction stateside, some are looking outside their home borders for an additional revenue stream -- while others are starting to reevaluate the wisdom in taking their business model abroad. Case in point: Disney, which has been having a rough go of it with its first MVNO (ESPN Mobile) and recently launched a second with Disney Mobile, has shelved plans to take Disney Mobile to the UK via O2's network, citing "the rapidly changing competitive environment" (when we run that bit through Babelfish's corporate lip service-to-English translator, we get "we're getting our rears handed to us at home, and we need to figure out what the heck we're doing wrong before we launch elsewhere"). Of course, this is technically an indefinite delay, not a cancellation -- meaning that there may yet be hope for Brits looking forward to tracking the little ones via Disney's Family Locator service -- just not any time soon.

[Via Techdirt]

It seemed pretty obvious that Disney's family-oriented Disney Mobile MVNO was in desperate need of a kidproof handset, having initially come to the table with only a pair of middling clamshells for the little 'uns. Enter the pod-shaped D100 -- now granted, we can't say with certainty that they'll be marketing this toward parents with young children when it launches, but c'mon, it's got Winnie the Pooh on its backside. The usual parental controls are present on the device, but more interestingly, the numeric keypad can be replaced with a simpler four-button design if numeric dialing isn't needed (try texting on that, kiddies).

[Via phoneArena]

Update: In speaking with Disney Mobile, it turns out this lil' pod won't be seeing duty here in the States -- it's destined for South America as a general consumer device.

We've never really been into Pooh. But if the Tao of the honey bear has you or your youngin' by the throat then perhaps the Dmobo P700 is the phone for you. Built in cahoots with Disney, the P700 sports many of the same features as big-girl phones: digital camera with flash, MP3 and MPEG-4 media player, and of course, a healthy slathering of Winnie the Pooh themes, wallpapers, ringtones, and accessories sure to make the $332 price-tag plus airfare to Hong Kong or Macau (where this is available) all seem worthwhile. Right, princess?