Disney Enters PC Market

Zebbers writes "Disney announced today from NYC that they are entering the personal computer market. With a childish design, built in content control and other kid-friendly features, it could be a breakthrough or just another specialized device flop. Do children really need their own specialized computer?" johnpaul191 points out that frogdesign designed the box, and writes "It looks sort of like a squared-off eMac (but blue), and has a flat mouse-shaped front (the ears are speakers!). It uses a a pen for on-screen input, as well as a keyboard and mouse."

Comments

DOA

[Ars-Fartsica]

Kids hate using things that are purposefully crippled for kids. Adults seem to forget that at the same time they are buying the same basketball shoes Shaq wears and the same skis the US Olympic team wears. People want to use the gear they envision themselves using in the best of all worlds. For kids that means using what adults use.

Re:DOA

[Ayaress]

Not only that, kids raised with computers can handle a considerably higher level of input than those just a couple generations ago, and can master at least basic GUI functions very quickly. It took me all of fifteen minutes to get my five year old niece to the point where she could connect, check her own email, and handle a web browser with minimal help the very first time she sat down at a computer. Her father took a week just to get him to turn it on without recoiling from the slight clicking sound the harddrive makes spinning up. Provided the parents aren't clueless about computers and the internet (both guarding against the risks and reaping the almost infinite rewards), the kids don't NEED a crippled computer to get started. They should target the crippled computers at clueless parents and have the kids teach them how to use them.

The commercials with the two year old pounding on the keyboard with a toy mallet and fixing a problem that had both his parents stymied are exaggerated, but not as absurdly so as they my look.

Re:DOA

[utexaspunk]

Brainwashing is one of the greatest joys of parenthood. :D

too bad so many people are relegating that joy to corporations like Disney...

Everyone remember what a hit the Barbie PC was?

[Transient0]

The market of people who are willing to pay several thousand dollars for an underpowered PC because it appeals to their children is a small one.

Besides, we should have all learned by now that if you plop a small child in front of a normal PC they will figure things out at an alarming rate. No animated rodent middle-man required.

Re:Frogdesign

[MooseByte]

I hate to say it, but that is one seriously butt-ugly computer. Kudos to them for the Mac SE cases and such, but damn. That thing looks like a Fischer-Price reject.

A Dell Dimension under the desk with an LCD sitting on the desktop seems like something they'll have a chance of still wanting in their room when a few years of growing up have passed.

And that's assuming their tastes haven't shifted from Disney to SpongeBob Squarepants in just a few months' time anyway.

Actually... A SpongeBob PC... Now THAT is an idea. ;-)

Aha!

[The-Bus]

Reminds me of the Disney electronics:

• Princess TV
  
• Princess AM/FM Radio
  
• Princess DVD Player
  
• "Classic" TV Set
  
• "Classic" Portable CD Player
  
• Buzz Lightyear AM/FM Radio
  

It's brilliant, really. The guts of a PC are about as much of a commodity market as you can imagine. Just add some flourishes to the OS (which I'm sure MS would be happy to oblige to) -- and here we're talking some new icons, backgrounds, etc. Something I could accomplish in a weekend. Add some kid-friendly interweb-nanny software, some prebundled crappy games, and TADA! you've got a Disney computer which you can now mark up. And since Toby and Caitlin don't need to run Photoshop or FoxPro, it doesn't need 1GB of RAM. Then make each case a different color, sell them as limited editions for one year (Tan and brown Lion King PC available only through fall! Get yours now!), pull in profit.

Genius.

Hotwheels PC? Anyone?

[Vaginal Discharge]

Anyone remember when they had those Hotwheels PC for boys, and Barbie PC for girls? That company went bankrupt real fast. Apparently this type of marketing is just plain stupid. Kids want "kid-themed" PCs as much as women want "female-themed" cars. Frankly, if I was a kid, I'd be insulted.

Also, the target market (kids who were born in the 90's) know as much about Micky Mouse as I know about Charlie Chaplin. They grew up with Buzz Lightyear, not Micky.