The application was also integrated with a SMS service, so that the user was able to receive scoring alerts for favorite teams, and breaking news.
In summer 2006, ESPN rolled out the Samsung ACE (SPH-A900), which resembled Motorola's RAZR phones and would ultimately replace the MVP.
Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller's book, Those Guys Have All the Fun: Inside the World of ESPN, notes that Apple CEO Steve Jobs (who held a large stake in Disney through his ownership of animation studio Pixar) reportedly told ESPN president George Bodenheimer, "Your phone is the dumbest fucking idea I have ever heard.
Though the cost of the full-service, 400 minute plan remained $64.95, the result was that users were allowed more freedom to pick and choose the services they wanted.
[11] ESPN had initially reaffirmed its commitment to the product, stating that they expected that price cuts in handsets, increased marketing efforts, and other incentives for customers would prove to be successful.
The app soon was also launched for Android and showed the network's investment in mobile communications would be worthwhile despite the previous setback of the MVNO attempt with sub-standard hardware.