3. Parents Want Good Content
But…
• Cheap or free
• Big bother: Involves credit card, privacy
decisions and big data
• So… most parents haven’t seen jaw-
dropping content
4. The Pass Back
Effect
Learning: Is there an app for that?
Cynthia Chiong & Carly Shuler
The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop
5. 12 Apps per Phone,
Mostly Free
There are an average of 12 apps on
mobile devices used by kids:
• 88% of those apps are free
• Gaming: 6.5 of the 12 apps
• The rest are mostly for
downloading music and photos
• Only ½ of those who download
have ever paid.
Data from NPD 2012
7. Parents Want Safe Kids,
But Few Use Protection
• More than half of parents say they use
parental controls but only 40 % of
online teens say that their parents use
them
• Facebook parents voting with their feet
• Phones haven’t matured like PCs for
parental controls ; false security or safer
apps?
8. Parents Say they Want
to Limit Screen Time
• The electronic babysitter
• Lack of self control in their own screen
time
• “I’m doing my homework” excuse
9. Parents Say They Want Learning
• Buy tablets for learning, games and
videos but kids use only 2 of 3
• Every study shows games in the lead for
downloaded apps
• The YouTube youth
phenomena
• Should parents
control the ratio?
10. Parents Want to Know
What their Kids Are Learning
• Don't seek the educational reports.
• Leapfrog’s most robust; little used
parental reports
• But will look at “creations”
11. “Kids have enough
computer time in school”
• Play time at a premium
• You are creating apps for the busiest
generation
Babble.com
12. What parents say about apps
with “Social Good”
• They like the “idea”
• They don’t want to pay a
premium
• Parents do give, but
favor their schools and
other local charities
Zynga's “Oh, What Fun!”
drive turns in-app purchases
into Toys for Tots.
13. Where’s
Dr. Spock?
– Don’t limit the screen time because expert
advice doesn’t fit in with their model of
parenting
– Half of the parenting advice written on the
Internet is about managing screen time
– Ages and Stages Have Not Been Prescribed
Parents defy advice
of experts like the AAP
14. Distribution Systems
• Today’s toy store is a tough experience
• Today’s app store isn’t much better
• Specs, licenses and permissions are a
necessary detriment
• Choice is the disease of modernity
17. Circa 1992
• Small installed base of multimedia PCs
• Hefty price for CDs in store
• Can’t preview content
• Sold terribly
• Cost $500,000 to create a disk.
18. 1990s Encarta
• Assumption:
• A consumer would purchase 10-20 CDs a
year
• Pay retailers to stock CDs (Egghead and
CompUSA) that didn’t sell
• Suggested retail price 1993
$395
• Achieved market share
sold 120,000 copies
19. End of Chapter/Start of Chapter
• The market opted
for a free and freely
expanding
knowledge of the
universe.
• Wikipedia started
in 2001
• MS Encarta closed
in 2009.
20. Jumping the Dinosaur
• 1996: Microsoft
wanted to publish
a title a week
• By 1995 there were 12
dinosaur CDs
• 2013: 700 iPad; 900
iPhone apps
The Microsoft Way
Tatem Games
21. Next Renaissance
• Lower Margins but sell more
• Crowd Sourced Play
• Touch, Gesture, Voice
• Better Distribution
– Even Mike next door can be Micro-Soft
• Better Tools
• Internet of “things”
• Curation /Aggregation
22. $ Pain Points
• In-app payments
– One million US children made in app
purchases in 2012
• Subscription
– Keeping your audience from free-flitting
• Books vs. Apps
• Discoverability
23. PlaySquare: Tactile TV
• Porn for kids
(you know it
when…)
• Free trial
• Dream Team of
Producers
• Episodic
• Next Gen
Interactive TV
http://playsquare.tv/
24. Where Apps end and eBooks Begin
• Oscar Award
• App first
• Layered on AR
– Personalization
• Cross-generational
• A great story
• Oscar pedigree
25. The Channel Approach: Playrific
• Personalized
• Constantly
Changing
• YouTube Lite
• Playpaks
• Trailers
• Easy reporting
• Order in a Crazy world
• PBS model
26. Parents and Kids Shared
Environments
• Connecting through
screens
• Shared Wishlist and
Thank Yous
• Charity Component
• It’s a start
27. Every Product Tells a Story
Math Doodles
• Your iTunes page is your
product
• Don’t try to hide the
fact that it’s math
• Failure happens
• Passion, empathy for
children on every page
33. Minimum Bar for Parents
• Pedigree helps
• Parent facing experience
• Single differentiator/mom megaphone
• Personal investment surrounding story
• The store page is not an afterthought
• Cross generational
• Share Output
• Trusted, open, respectful
34. Best Practices
• Kid-Centric Development
• Discovery
• Respect limited free time –learn game
through play
• Maturation of development community.
For legal responsibilities and protection:
http://momswithapps.com/2012/01/08
/legal-considerations-for-mobile-app-
developers/
