Welcome to the Tech Mem Ride Home for Thursday, April 9th, 2020.

I'm Brian McCullough today.

Disney Plus continues to blow the doors off the place.

Good old phone calls are back back along with the desktop web.

Don't expect to see any new emoji for a while. Stadia is free.

COBOL skills are in high demand and why the pandemic might be a long-term good for internet infrastructure.

Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.

Even more blockbuster numbers in the streaming space, Disney has announced that Disney Plus

now has more than 50 million paid subscribers globally and that it's April 3rd launch in India alone added 8 million new subscribers there

quoting the streamable

In February Disney announced that their widely popular streaming service Disney Plus has amassed 26.5 million subscribers in its Q1 2020 and 28.6 million subscribers as of February 4th.

That means that the company has added 21.4 million subscribers in just over two months.

We're truly humbled that Disney Plus is resonating with millions around the globe and we believe this bodes well for our

continued expansion throughout Western Europe and into Japan and all of Latin America

later this year said Kevin Mayer chairman of Walt Disney's direct to consumer

and international division.

Great storytelling inspires and uplifts and we are in the fortunate position of being able to deliver a vast array of great entertainment rooted in joy and optimism on Disney Plus."

During the initial launch, 20% of Disney Plus's 26.5 million subscribers came as a result

of the partnership with Verizon, while 50% came directly on the Disney Plus

website with the rest coming through partnerships with companies like Apple and Roku, end quote.

Also, I didn't mention this earlier in the week, but Sensor Tower reported that

Quibi got more than 300,000 downloads on its launch day a couple days ago

...