It wasn't so long ago that the notion of kids having their own tablet computers seemed excessive, even absurd. But as tablets flood the marketplace in record numbers—more than 27 million were purchased in the last quarter alone, according to market researcher IDC (IDC)—it's become clear that the devices are tailor-fit for smaller hands. "With the original Kindle Fire," says Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon.com's Kindle unit, "we were really surprised with the feedback we got from parents regarding the fact that they liked to hand it over to their kids, and the kids were using it."
That's why the company this month launched a campaign to position its Kindle Fire tablet as a makeshift toy. Amazon (AMZN) introduced FreeTime Unlimited, a subscription multimedia service for the Kindle Fire and the Kindle Fire HD aimed exclusively at children between the ages of three and eight. Part streaming media generator, part content-vetting babysitter, FreeTime costs $4.99 a month for a single subscription and $9.99 monthly for a multiple-child membership. (The prices drop to $2.99 and $6.99, respectively, for Amazon Prime members). Its young users have free rein over a vast trove of G-Rated books, games, and films, including big names such as Spongebob Squarepants and Dora the Explorer, plus content provided by Disney (DIS), Sesame Street, Nickelodeon (VIA), and DC Comics.
The Web giant is heavily touting the service's parental control aspects. "FreeTime Unlimited reduces the contention that parents have with their kids," says Larsen. "Where a kid is always like, 'Hey can I buy this? What about this extra book or extra app?' For parents, that's okay, of course, but we'd like to have to not make those micro-decisions every day."
While the digital media landscape has been a perilous one for paid-subscription models—one recent example is the shuttering of News Corp.'s (NWS) iPad-only publication, The Daily—there's evidence that FreeTime Unlimited could succeed where others failed because it's built on "all-access" to a bottomless well of content. "That's what Netlix (NFLX) and Hulu Plus use," says Ken Doctor, media analyst and author of Newsonomics. "The model has worked for that. But Amazon's play is a combination of retail sales and media. And really, nobody else is in that business."
Doctor is referring to Amazon Prime—which he calls the company's "Trojan Horse" with consumers. Introduced in 2011, Prime was originally conceived as a premium delivery service that guaranteed two-day shipping on all orders for a yearly rate of $79. But Prime has quietly evolved from a simple delivery vehicle intended to encourage more shopping into a full-blown streaming media subscription service that competes with Hulu and Netflix. "Now they say, if you're a Prime member, you get all this media on-demand for free that other people have to pay for," says Doctor. "This FreeTime [Unlimited] subscription at half-price if you're a Prime member follows that thinking exactly. For Amazon, they don't have to make money on the Kindle Fire. They can just keep selling and upgrading content. Because they have the retail—in addition to the media—there are all kinds of wins in it for Amazon when it comes to young parents and their children."
There's also the fact that children seem to gravitate to tablet computers like insects to light. "What can a very young child do? They can touch things and they can point at things," says Sandra Calvert, professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center at Georgetown University. "When they touch a tablet, it responds contingently. In that sense, it's far superior to a television that you'd sit and watch, and it's much easier to operate than a traditional computer." Not only are Kindle Fires the right size, but also as Larsen points out, they're durable. "You can throw it against the wall and it'll be fine," he says.
Amazon isn't the only tablet maker trying to capitalize on the kid craze. Toys R Us just released the 7-inch Tabeo ($149)—a Wi-Fi-enabled device with the same screen size as the base Kindle Fire—loaded with games, books, and video. Other kid-friendly tablets include Oregon Scientific's MEEP; the Kurio 7, developed by Dutch toymaker Eldohm; and the Leapfrog Leappad, made by education-toy company Leapfrog. All of them retail for $149.99. Larsen is quick to dismiss his rivals. "A lot of folks are coming out with these kid-only tablets, which I'm sure are nice products," he says. "But as a parent, I'd much rather spend a $159 and have the option of turning it into a kids' tablet, but also having the option of taking it back."
For its part, Apple declined to comment on future products, but spokesman Tom Neumayr points out that iTunes (AAPL) has an extensive children's section with an option for parental settings. (Larsen and Neumayr both declined to say if FreeTime Unlimited would eventually become available as an app on the iPad.)
At least one expert doubts the efficacy of the parental settings—and argues that they're beside the point. "When I was able to demo the FreeTime app, it was a huge pain," says James McQuivey, a media analyst at Forrestor Research (FORR). "It's too much work for parents. I'll tell you from the cable experience: Everyone says they want parental controls on their cable setup, but it's just too hard to do." In that sense, FreeTime Unlimited could become a tablet-only version of Netflix's popular streaming service, but for children. According to McQuivey, kids overwhelmingly prefer video to the rest of its offerings. "Freetime makes it easier for parents to give a wide range of videos that are bubble-wrapped in this kid-friendly, cordoned-off environment," he says, "but at the same time it also has a bunch of activities, including the pseudo-intellectual ones like reading books, which is going to feel good to parents."
It's too early to tell whether the kids' service will help Amazon sell more Kindles, according to McQuivey. "A parent will buy a Kindle Fire HD," he says, "but next year—when a newer and faster version with the Quad-4 chip comes out—he or she will say: 'You know what? I'll just give my child the old one, and I won't have to fight over it with him anymore.'"
No comments:
Post a Comment