TOKYO, Nov. 12, 2007 (Thomson Financial delivered by Newstex) -- Entertainment giant Walt Disney (NYSE:DCQ) said Monday it will launch a mobile phone service in Japan in a tie-up with Softbank Corp, hoping to use its popular characters to win a slice of the cutthroat market.Walt Disney Japan, the local unit of Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) , applied to the communications ministry to start 'Disney Mobile' in spring 2008 by leasing networks from Softbank Mobile, the two companies said.Disney is expected to use its cartoons to design handsets and to offer exclusive multimedia content to subscribers.'This relationship will enable us to deliver an innovative and integrated mobile service to the broad range of Disney customers in Japan,' Paul Candland, president of Walt Disney Japan, said, confirming weekend news reports.Masayoshi Son, head of the Softbank conglomerate and one of Japan's richest people, said: 'We're confident this collaboration with Disney will enable Softbank to further expand its range of customers.'The handsets will be sold at Softbank Mobile's 2,400 sales outlets across Japan, a spokesman for Walt Disney Japan said.Japan, a nation of 127 million people, has more than 100 million mobile phones in operation, spelling major challenges for service providers to achieve growth.Japan's cell phone market is monopolized by NTT DoCoMo (NYSE:DCM) , KDDI Corp and Softbank Mobile, as launching a new service would require a massive initial investment.Softbank started cellphone service by buying British giant Vodafone's (NYSE:VOD) struggling Japanese unit for 15 billion yen last year.(1 US dollar = 110.20 yen)