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May 03, 2007 | Comments: (0)
Disney to the desktop
The last great advertising-free frontier of personal computing may soon be overrun by RSS-enabled desktop advertorial applets thanks to the unveiling of a Disney Vista gadget yesterday at Microsoft MIX, as reported by The Seattle Times and Read/Write Web.
The gadget -- which will likely debut on PC desktops in China, thanks to talks between Disney, Microsoft, and large OEMs -- has apparently been created to educate the Chinese about Disney in hopes of driving up attendance at Hong Kong Disneyland.
According to The Seattle Times, the gadget taps RSS to continually update a theme park news feed, thereby quenching end-users' thirst for the latest Disney G-2. Video, trip-planning, and interactive functionality will also be included in what Robbie Bach, president of Disney's entertainment and devices division, is calling "a Disney application on the PC," according to The Seattle Times.
No opt-out policy was discussed during the Microsoft MIX presentation, according to the article.
Certainly the model -- namely, to load up new desktops with copious marketing gadgets --will prove appealing not only to corporations such as Disney seeking to capitalize on the uptick in home computer use but also to Microsoft and its OEMs, which will be able to open new markets with lower-priced products without jeopardizing profit margins, thanks to subsidizing marketingware.
Posted by Jason Snyder on May 3, 2007 12:11 PM
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