You sure? From what I can see all that Jamba have said is that they'll not be using operator portals to acquire customers - have Jamba actually said that they'll be "creating a direct billing relationship" with customers?

To me that sounds extremely unlikely since:

a) They're selling to kids - so that's kinda gonna make credit/debit cards a bit of a challenge.

b) The network operators won't stand for it.

Surely Jamba will just be using premium rate SMS or similar to bill for the content, piggybacking on the existing operator billing relationship with the end user?

so it would sound something like this?

You've called SimpsonTel (Wahoo!), unfortunatley all of our operators are currently on their douughnut break (mmmmm Doughnuts), but dont have a cow man, heres some hold music until one becomes avalible (doh)

"a) They're selling to kids - so that's kinda gonna make credit/debit cards a bit of a challenge"

Cartoons are not just for kids.

I think you would be supprised by the number of people 18 and over that watch the Simpsons. It has been on for 18 seasons and most of my friends still watch and love this show. Everyone at my work still watches. There is plenty of money to get from credit card holders on this one.

"a) They're selling to kids - so that's kinda gonna make credit/debit cards a bit of a challenge"

Simpsons isn't quite "kiddie material", actually its target is more like the pre-teen and uppers, as some humor is definitely for that target segment.

Plus, I may have been a "kid" when I started watching them (9 yrs. old) but I'm 26 now. The only problem I see is that I do not live in the US, and it seems like this material is sold by region (just like the crappy iTunes, which doesn't sell in Mexico either).

I really want for mobile stuff to sell w/o operator deals but for an entirely different reason: it seems my local operator sells only the crappiest of games, while Doom RPG just doesn't come yet. The only mobile app I've bought was one that could be downloaded from your mobile after paying online. It used e-mail as a fall-back in case your operator doesn't receive the SMS.

"I think you would be supprised by the number of people 18 and over that watch the Simpsons. It has been on for 18 seasons and most of my friends still watch and love this show. Everyone at my work still watches. There is plenty of money to get from credit card holders on this one."

But are any of them stupid enough to pay the prices Jamba will charge?

All the service providers want to either be the content provider (which telco was it that blocked ring tones from outside suppliers? Verizon?) or have an exclusive with a content provider (to draw in more subscribers). All the content providers want to avoid dealing with the service providers, as they want access to the most people. It's a constant war. Much the same as is going on in broadband and net neutrality. The telcos an cable companies don't mind high bandwidth applications getting on for free, just as long as the apps are their's.

I'm surprised the service carriers object so much. USA network offers a SMS product for Psych and Monk (when are we going to get new episodes?). Sign up and get up to 5 messages a week with all sorts of "bonuses". At between 10 and 15 cents a pop (with the media packages, these can still add up), that's $4-6 a month if you sign up for both show. Add the contests from Coke and Pepsi, with the spam they send and before you know it you have a huge text bill.

And don't get me started on teenage girls. Thank God I don't have any, they'd never make it to college. Either I couldn't afford it or they'd be locked away.