The newest netbook player: Disney
Those who value high specs in their computers might dismiss netbooks as Mickey Mouse machines. But that’s about to become a more accurate description with the news that Disney is to sell a netbook aimed at children.
The Disney Netpal, priced at $350, will go on sale at Toys “R” Us and Amazon next month. As well as coming in “Princess Pink” and “Magic Blue” it will include some Disney-themed software plus wallpaper and desktop themes featuring Disney characters.
Perhaps more importantly for parents, it comes with a spill-proof keyboard, a reinforced casing designed to protect against data loss after a bump or drop, and extensive parental control software. There’s even a customizable reward system where, for example, recreational games can’t be accessed until the child has completed an educational activity.
Whilst hardly cutting-edge, it’s not a bad set of specs for the price and intended audience. Under the skin it’s an Asus PC running Windows XP (there’s a simplified ‘operating system’ layered on top for the child to use) with 1GB of RAM and either a 160GB hard drive or a 16GB solid state drive.
Disney isn’t worried by the threat of parents thinking $350 is too much to spend on a gift. The firm’s Chris Heatherly told Reuters, “What parents consistently told us is ‘I’m not looking for the lowest price point. I’m looking for something that is good value for money that my kid is going to get use out of.’”
The Asus-Disney partnership seems a pretty smart tie-up. The financial arrangements between the two haven’t been made public, but given the pricing isn’t significantly jacked up Asus may well be taking a smaller revenue from each sale than it normally does. However, that’s clearly a price worth paying as the Disney tie-in allow it to get sales it would otherwise have been extremely unlikely to get.
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