Vodafone and Disney have announced a partnership to develop a premium smartwatch for children. The two companies are seeking to contribute all their expertise to the development. Kids will be offered “a unique smartwatch experience” thanks to the innovative hardware design by the smart-tech team at Vodafone, combined with the software experience of both companies and some of the most popular Disney characters of all time. The Vodafone Kids Smart Watch is planned to launch in time for Christmas in key European markets, including Germany.
Vodafone has entrusted designer Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject for the smartwatch’s development and design, and they will be offering their know-how to the product design team at Vodafone. By doing this, their intention is to strengthen “competence in the development of unique user experiences in a dynamically developing market for smart consumer technologies”. Lutfu Kitapci, managing director for Vodafone Consumer IoT, said, “We are very pleased about our partnership with Disney. We strongly believe that we can jointly reinvent the smart-tech world of our children by combining proven global networks and our top-of-the-class product and design pedigrees with popular Disney characters.”
Tasia Filippatos, senior vice president Consumer Products, Games and Publishing EMEA at Disney, explained: “This partnership will strengthen our presence in an exciting and emerging market. We are bringing together design and technology as well as the world’s most popular Disney characters, creating what could be the smartest kids’ watch of all time.” By releasing the Kids Smart Watch, Vodafone is reaffirming its long-term commitment to developing comprehensive product and service design in-house. Vodafone says that its partnership with Disney for the development of a smart-tech range is an important strategic step, since the market for smart devices will develop very dynamically over the next few years. An estimated 64 billion devices of this category will be in use worldwide by 2026, according to a study by Business Insider.
