Review Finds Mobile ESPN’s Second Handset Is More Attractive

Mobile ESPN’s “ACE” Phone

Mobile ESPN’s new “ACE” Samsung phone is “eye-catching and more tightly integrated with ESPN’s content and branding” than the initial Sanyo MVP, but “better visuals come with a battery-devouring cost on such a skinny phone,” according to Bruce Meyerson of the AP. The new phone costs $99 for new subscribers signing a two-year commitment or $149 with a two-year extension to upgrade from the MVP. The differences between the two “are more superficial than technological. But looks are a key feature for a pricier service.” The MVP “looks and feels a tad clunkier, and unlike the ACE, its buttons aren’t optimized for one-click access to the neon carnival of Mobile ESPN’s menus. On the downside, the ACE gets sluggish or even frozen on downloads and updates, while the MVP zips along.” The ACE “viewing experience is more pleasing for the video updates that Mobile ESPN hopes users will pay extra to watch.” But “even with light usage of the Mobile ESPN application, the [ACE] phone would drain its juice in less than half a day. In an apparent nod to this deficiency, every ACE is being sold with a free car charger, an accessory that usually costs extra.” The “real answer, though, is to buy an extended-life battery” for an extra $30 (AP, 8/2).

CALLS & ANSWERS: Mobile ESPN Senior VP & GM Manish Jha “took aim last week at investment analysts who have attacked the validity” of the wireless phone venture, saying that he “believes the full value of the service has yet to be realized.” Jha: “We are, at least within the mobile organization, feeling very, very good about what we’ve created and continue to focus on how we make it even better as time goes on.” SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL’s Fisher & Ourand note Jha’s comments “come as a third wave of advertising is planned for the product” (SBJ, 7/31 issue).