Developers building products for moms and kids often survey what people want before building. Bad idea says Robin Raskin, parents say one thing about their kids but usually mean another.

1. The Parent Trap: A Cautionary Tale

2. Don’t Believe Everything
They Say

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

6. App-etite
$4.40
Cinnamon Dolce
Latte

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

15. Unexpected Consequences:
Regulatory Climate
• Hard to get data
• Can’t geo-locate
• Can’t personalize
• COPPA on trial
MaximumDetection.com

16. The Renaissance has just begun
• Photo of renaissance

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

28. Families as Game Creators: Tiny Tap

29. Crowdsourced Play with Real World
Behavior: The Blu/Fugu
• http://theblu.com/welcome

31. Toy Meets App: Disney Infinity

32. Engagement and Experiences
• MakerBot Store
• MakerFaire

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/