Ikid Tablet Market Needs Mobile Technology Usage

IKid Tablet

Market Needs

Mobile technology usage is growing rapidly among children. Kids born today learn to use tablets and smartphones at a very early age. These devices not only connect the child to the modern world, but they can be valuable learning tools. A quick scan of the Apple App Store shows that there are hundreds of apps for the iPad under the category of "preschool education," and many more for entertainment. Yet, no company has yet to develop a smartphone designed specifically for toddlers.

The rising trend of toddlers and children using tablets for both educational and entertainment purposes is an example of a market need. Tablets are not design with toddlers in mind, in terms of their physical size, their weight and the user interaction, not to mention the content. This is strange, because market research shows that 29% of toddlers start using mobile technology even before they can talk (Bates, 2013). Technology writers have sought to identify the characteristic of tablets that would make them ideal for young children. Some of these traits are durability, size and screenpower, parent controls and apps (Crisp, 2013). These are important -- children are more likely to drop or break their tablets. Children are less likely to remember to plug their tablets in. Further, parental controls are of critical importance.

Further analysis of the market shows that some firms are beginning to enter the market of tablets for children. Major competitor Samsung has launched Galaxy for Kids and there is also the Kindle Fire for Kids. Most current entries on the market use the Android operating system (Crisp, 2013). At present, Apple is in this market only with its basic iPad model. The problem is that the iPad is not designed for children. It is relatively fragile, and lacks the level of parental controls that tablets designed especially for children will have. The iKids Tablet will be Apple's entry into this emerging tablet market.

Market Growth.

According to U.S. Census data, there are 20 million children under the age of 5 in the United States. To chart future growth, we need to look at the size of the demographics most likely to have kids. There are around 80 million adults of prime child-bearing age between 20 and 40, and many of these will be having children. This means that there is a fairly large market. It should be noted that the size of the market does not grow, per se, but people graduate out of this market, and new children are born into this market. The result of that is that every five years, there will be between 19-20 new children in under the age of 5 in the United States, or around 5 million per year. Factor in the international markets and the figure is much higher.