NO MO' MVNO

Sing along to the new Mickey Mouse Club jingle:

M-I-C … See, you didn't last.

K-E-Y … Why? Because we loathe you.

M-No-V-N-O

What does it mean when the marketing champion of all time, Disney, could not make a go of it as a mobile virtual network operator? Or that Disney-owned ESPN couldn't translate its powerful brand into a mobile business either? Given the success of Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile, so far, one might think that perhaps Disney and ESPN's focus was too narrow, or that the MVNO model is simply dead on arrival — early-to-market exceptions excluded.

But there are a few MVNOs that are even more narrowly focused than Disney and ESPN, and have survived longer. Not long enough to call them a success yet, but still longer than Disney.

For example, kajeet is a pay-as-you-go phone service for the tween market — kids between 8 and 15 years of age who wouldn't be caught dead walking around with a Disney phone. The company has been around since 2003, launched its service six months ago and last month secured $36.8 million in Series B funding. Draper Fisher Jurvetson Growth Fund led the financing. Other investors include Bessemer Venture Partners, Fidelity Ventures, Gabriel Venture Partners and InterWest Partners. They obviously don't think the model is DOA.

Movida, another narrowly focused MVNO, is still kicking, too. Movida targets the Spanish speaking population in the U.S. and continues to build its management team with the appointment last week of Keith Paglusch, former chief operating officer of Windstream, as vice president of operations. It also made a push into southern Florida last month.

While Movida has the comfort of serving a growing demographic, it is still too early to say if it or kajeet will be long-term players. But at least they can say they aren't a Mickey Mouse operation.

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