The Halting Launch Of Disney+ Was Due To App Architecture
Many of us were right there; waiting for the launch of Disney+, hyped with anticipation, then – pffffffft.
Yep, there were (and still are) folks who’re having a lot of trouble logging in to Disney+.
Disney+ Problems
On November 12, Variety’s Todd Spangler reported:
The embarrassing stumble out of the gate for Disney Plus comes after months of fanfare and heavy advertising, including promos on Disney’s ABC and ESPN networks, leading up to the debut. The service launched early Tuesday (Nov. 12) in the U.S., Canada and the Netherlands. It’s priced at $6.99 per month in the U.S. The company had staged a soft-launch of Disney Plus in the Netherlands in September, hoping that would help it work out kinks ahead of the U.S. kickoff.
The subscription VOD service is operated by New York-based Disney Streaming Services, which was formed after Disney acquired majority control of Major League Baseball’s BAMTech. Pre-launch, Michael Paull, president of Disney Streaming Services, had expressed confidence in the team’s ability to meet high demand. “Being able to operate at scale is very different from being able to operate in sort of single-digit-million subscribers. It’s night and day,” he told Variety.
Disney’s failure to anticipate the high level of demand for Disney Plus on launch day, as it claimed, likely was exacerbated by its promo deal with Verizon, which is making the streaming service free for 12 months to new and existing wireless customers on unlimited-data plans as well as new Fios broadband and 5G home wireless internet customers. In addition, Disney is offering a free seven-day trial of Disney Plus, which was clearly another driver pushing consumers to sign up.
Disney+ Solutions
Then, on November 19, Janko Reottgers of Variety posted about the solution:
No, it wasn’t Amazon’s fault that Disney Plus struggled following its launch last week: Disney direct-to-consumer chairman Kevin Mayer told the audience of Recode’s Code Media conference in Los Angeles Tuesday that there really wasn’t anyone to blame but Disney’s own technology. “It had we to do with the way we architected the app,” Mayer said. “It was not Amazon.”
Mayer said that the company had been using the same app architecture for previous projects, but that no one really expected to reach 10 million sign-ups in just a few days. “We were very surprised,” Mayer said.
Disney is now working on rolling out fixes, with Mayer saying that a re-architected version of the app would be available within the next week or two.
Now, I remember having a little bit of trouble logging in first thing on the 12th, but since then it’s been smooth sailing for me and my family. How about you? Is Disney+ still giving you trouble? Let us know in the comments.