Interview with Disney's Larry Shapiro Page 2

FierceMobileContent: So in the early days of mobile content, you were thinking of mobile separately but now it seems as if it’s melding with other content—Internet and TV. Is it because mobile technology is becoming more sophisticated?

Shapiro: I think this concept is ahead of the technology but not radically ahead. People are starting to use their phones for Internet browsing. We have to look at what makes sense—is it having a stand-alone mobile entertainment experience or having a connected mobile-entertainment experience?

We are still taking advantage of the expertise we built in developing and publishing mobile content. There is a link between what progress we have made on the mobile side and the expertise we have on the Internet side in developing properties. We think it is a great magical connection to think about our future in a different way.

FierceMobileContent: It’s integrated but you are still thinking of mobile differently? It’s not to the point where you are saying “this is the Internet on the phone” so you don’t have to think of mobile differently?

Shapiro: Yes. For example, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” multiplayer online game that we are creating is an incredibly rich universe and there are number of things you could do there. Well it’s not going to translate that well on a mobile phone in its richest state. It requires processing power, screen size, screen resolution and time that you probably won’t spend on a mobile phone. We are beyond the point where there is a standalone mobile “Pirates of the Caribbean” game and you are distributing it on a per-download basis. There could be different iterations. For example you could have a mobile game, that could be a mini-game, and that allows you to earn currency that you could transfer to your online game.

So at least there is something that during that activity—that 3 to 5 minutes at a time—that people are using their mobile game for entertainment purposes, that you are converting that to something that they can use when they have a longer experience.

There are different levels of this. You could chat with people between the phone and online. The levels of complexity rise. That’s when you hit the technological hurdles whether it is latency—when you are engaged with someone and they are on a high-speed network and you are not.

FierceMobileContent: You have a deal with Sprint mobile video and you are doing full-form video for High School Musical on the mobile. Tell me more about this.

Shapiro: This is actually a deal that was done by the Disney Channel Group. But whether you are talking about Disney or ESPN or ABC—the company is interested in seeing how mobile consumers are adopting mobile video. We are offering most of the programming online and we want to offer as much of that content via different distribution channels as possible.

 

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