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Would You Like Some Fries With That Download?
vodkamattvt writes The New York Times is reporting that the Walt Disney Company is hoping to replace happy meal toys with portable media players that could hold Disney movies, music, games, or photos. From the article: "The plan could work something like this: A customer enters a restaurant and buys a meal, receiving the portable media player and an electronic code that authorizes a partial download of a movie, video or other media file, which can be downloaded while in the restaurant, according to a United States Patent and Trademark Office application filed by Disney. Then, with each subsequent return, the customer earns more downloadable data, eventually getting an entire movie or game."
The target audience for the Happy Meal is kids -- it's to give the kids something to play with during the meal and that they can take home.
Something that you can't use until after you get home won't catch on with the kids... but it could work for adults.
This sounds much more in line with the collector's drink cups or those sports-team bobble-heads you can sometimes get at fast food places than the classic kid's meal toy.
If you ask me, we'll never see these, simply because a wifi media/game player costs money. Know how much a DS or PSP costs? I'm sure McDonalds can't afford to give away a $200 gaget with the purchase of a $3 meal.
A free download for an existing DS/PSP might happen, but since none to many people have such, I dout it.
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Do they honestly think that they will hold a child's interest long enough to keep the child coming back and downloading more of a movie? I doubt it. Rather if the child is really interested they'll keep nagging the parents and make them go out and buy the whole dvd, if they even do that.
they could watch their video to lose the calories
I'm afraid a little more effort than that will be required. Therein lies the problem, sadly. Everyone already knows how to exercise (running, biking, swimming, etc.) but they just don't care enough to do it.
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How is this fundamentally different from, say, stamp cards which allow me a free sandwich/coffe/coke/whatever after I've collected a few stamps?
Fundamentally, this is a "method of providing customer reward for ongoing purchases" (coupled with a "mechanism to ensure repeat business by children").
Big deal, so it's a digital method. They've taken the concept of reward cards, thrown in Wifi, and are claiming to have done something patentable. This is just silly.
God I hope this patent is rejected.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
According to "TFA", it takes 30 months for patents to be approved, and they havent even started looking at it yet. Right now it sounds like this is all "just in case we want to do this some day in the far future". Not Stuff that Matters.
I have to come in multiple times to get a full prize? This never would have flown with what an impatient child I was (and still am). I would have been so pissed during Lego or Popoid promotions (anyone else even remember Popoids?). Yay, I come in for a Happy Meal and get... A single Lego brick. It's like those Star Trek chess sets where you get one piece every three months, so you should be ready to sit down and play some chess by 2154.
So, now they are encouraging addiction to high fat, high calorie diets. And, the reward is sitting back, watching a movie. Sounds like a great way to add inches to our kids waste lines.
I believe they are encouraging acceptance of heavy-handed DRM schemes, and the reward for this acceptance is a fat/glucose hit. Sounds like a great way to raise a new generation of docile sheep for Hollywood.
Little Kids can't drive themselves to McDonald's. The truth is that when I was small child we went to McDonald's maybe once or twice a MONTH. We got Pizza maybe once or twice a month. Parents need to quite blaming McDonald's for their kids eating habits. Cooking at home is the key to better health. It isn't just fast food. If you eat out every night at TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesday, Olive Garden, Longhorn, or even a good high quality restaurant unless you you have a LOT of self control and order a salad you are going to get fat!
Restaurants are supposed to be treats. They have become a way of life.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
What seems a bit bigger of an obstacle is how do you get a device cheap enough that can actually handle playing a movie.
The cheapest device at the moment must be the GBA micro and that still is 100 dollars. Of course you could deduct Nintendo's and the retailers profit from it but how low could you possibly get?
Current happy toys are cheap chinese made plastic toys costing less then a dollar for the most ambitious campaigns.
Surely they know that any free tech device of any capacity is going to be hacked?
As for kids remembering to bring their player with them. A bit hopefull. Lending the device out temporarily would also be prone to cheating and asking for a deposit would effectively double the cues at the till for people wanting to give the device back after eating.
Nice idea but wouldn't it be simpler to put the media player in the table? That techonology can be readily bought from airline seats supliers.
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