Disney Mobile's Family Alerts - Top Mobile Apps Revisited 2006

App: Disney Mobile's Family Alerts

Company: Disney Mobile/mPortal (IP messaging solution)

Year it was a Top Mobile App: 2006

Why it was a Top Mobile App: The IP messaging solution had a distinct appeal for families--especially for parents who wanted to stay in touch with their kids. It was free and took precedence over all other types of incoming messages on a family member's phone, meaning it would be the first thing a child would see, even if their friends were texting them constantly. Click here for more.

Its current status: The Walt Disney Internet Group ended the Disney Mobile MVNO venture in September 2007. However, mPortal CEO D.P. Venkatesh said the product and business have evolved, and mPortal's smart client is being used by Leap Wireless' Cricket brand. In fact, one of the widgets available to Cricket users is a myAccount widget that has some of the same functionality as the family monitor. It can tell a user what their balance is and how many minutes they have left.