The Parent Trap: A Cautionary Tale

Don’t Believe Everything They Say

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

The Pass Back Effect

Learning: Is there an app for that? Cynthia Chiong & Carly Shuler The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop

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

App-etite $4.40

Cinnamon Dolce Latte

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?

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

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?

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”

“Kids have enough computer time in school”

• Play time at a premium

• You are creating apps for the busiest generation

Babble.com

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.

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

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

Unexpected Consequences: Regulatory Climate

• Hard to get data

• Can’t geo-locate

• Can’t personalize

• COPPA on trial

MaximumDetection.com

The Renaissance has just begun

• Photo of renaissance

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.

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

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.

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

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

$ 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

PlaySquare: Tactile TV

• Porn for kids (you know it when…)

• Free trial

• Dream Team of Producers

• Episodic

• Next Gen Interactive TV

http://playsquare.tv/

Where Apps end and eBooks Begin

• Oscar Award

• App first

• Layered on AR – Personalization

• Cross-generational

• A great story

• Oscar pedigree

The Channel Approach: Playrific

• Personalized

• Constantly Changing

• YouTube Lite

• Playpaks

• Trailers

• Easy reporting

• Order in a Crazy world

• PBS model

Parents and Kids Shared Environments

• Connecting through screens

• Shared Wishlist and Thank Yous

• Charity Component

• It’s a start

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

Families as Game Creators: Tiny Tap

Crowdsourced Play with Real World Behavior: The Blu/Fugu

• http://theblu.com/welcome

Toy Meets App: Disney Infinity

Engagement and Experiences

• MakerBot Store

• MakerFaire

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

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/