Forget phablets. Touchscreen Android devices designed expressly for kids with bright colors, durable cases and rubberized surfaces are making a big splash in the tablet space.
Tablets certainly are a hot-ticket item. Apple was projected to sell 62 million iPads in 2012, and Android tablet sales were up 177 percent this holiday season. But while some parents are only too happy to share their $500-plus tablets with the kids (or even buy the kiddos iPads of their own), some are opting instead to get a tablet designed specifically for their wee ones' tiny fingers and eager minds.
According to an August Forrester survey of 4,750 adults, 20 percent of tablet-owning parents with kids 6 and under say they let them use their tablet. That number rises to 29 percent among parents with kids older than six. And the gadgets ranked highly on kids' gotta-have list this holiday season. The iPad took the top spot on kids' Christmas wish lists in a Nielsen survey of 3,000 U.S. residents aged 6 and over, beating 16 other popular gaming and computing devices. The 13 and up set also favored the iPad over other brand tablets and computers.
Kids love tablets, but use them a little differently than we do.
“Kids can read, play educational games, watch movies and entertain themselves in any number of ways with tablets, either at home or on the go,” Polaroid President and CEO Scott Hardy told Wired via email. “Of course, kids also have a tendency to be a little less careful with the devices than their parents do, and they don’t necessarily want or need all of the features, functionalities and, frankly, freedoms that adults want and need from tablets, either.”
And so a market for kid-friendly tablets has emerged, lead by options like Polaroid’s aptly named Kids Tablet, the Toys ‘R Us Tabeo and the OLPC XO Learning Tablet. The offerings are diverse, yet strangely similar.
At the core, most are Android slates, often with 7-inch, non-HD resolution LCD displays. Instead of sleek, minimalist silhouettes, they're chunky and plastic, usually ringed by a bumper of rubber -- the better for peanut butter-slicked fingers to hold, and for surviving the inevitable drop when tiny fingers lose their grip. They also differentiate themselves from their "adult" brethren by providing a safer virtual environment for kids and sporting a lower price point.
Those were among the key desires parents had for their kids’ tablet experience when the subject came up about a year ago at a Toys “R” Us focus group. The kids also said they want to play music, surf the internet, play games and watch movies all on one device. “We really spotted a trend with kids tablets a while back,” said Troy Peterson, the company's vice president divisional merchandise manager of electronics and entertainment.
Durability is a particular concern for parents, especially those who share their tablets with young children.
“My iPad shattered and it was not fun," like Dr. Nichole Adams, child psychologist and mother of two toddlers, said. "It's a very expensive toy to break.” She bought a more durable cover and set limits to where the iPad was allowed to be used.
It’s a concern with older kids, too. Joe Traverso, an IT professional with three teen-age boys, said his kids used to have a LeapPad, which gives him a pretty good idea of what's needed in a kid's tablet.
"An updated version or similar product would definitely need to be able to put up with a beating -- dropping, throwing, chewed on, spilled on. Easy to grip would be a plus, waterproof would be a necessity, and just overall ruggedness essential,” Traverso said in an email.
If a dog gets a hold of your tablet, you're probably still screwed, but a kids' tablet have rounder, rubber-rimmed edges to withstand drops and Frisbee-like tosses. These devices aren't any more waterproof than a fourth-gen iPad or Nexus 10, however.
Most of these kid-aimed devices are priced just under the $200 you'd spend on many of the 7-inch Android tablets out there. Polaroid’s Kids Tablet, the Kurio 7, the Tabeo, and the OLPC XO all run at $150. That's still pricey, though, so upgradeability is also a concern for tech-savvy, economical parents.
“From a parent's point of view, it is very important that a platform can be updated and keep its value after a few years and not just be thrown aside,” Traverso said.
With Android underpinnings, these kids-only tablets do have the potential to stay updated with the latest apps and OS upgrades, as opposed to options like the LeapPad which runs its own homegrown software.
Security is perhaps the biggest concern of parents who want a tablet for their kids. Forrester found 26 percent of tablet-owning U.S. parents say they're concerned about their children accessing inappropriate content — which supports a case for kids having their own tablets.
The Toys “R” Us’ Tabeo tablet, for example, is preloaded with 50 kid-friendly apps and has a curated app store of 7,000 more, a mix of top-rated bestsellers, selections from trusted publishers and developers, and others approved by a team that reviews all content in the store. All the kids tablets we checked out had some degree of parental controls, allowing or disallowing access to the web browser, app store, camera, and other features.
But do you really need a tablet designed-specifically for kids to do all this? For a Benjamin or two more, you can get a fully-featured iPad or Nexus 7 and slap a ruggedized case on it to protect it from spills to the ground or from soda pop.
“I don't buy into gimmicky tech like kids versions of expensive electronics,” said Dan MacMartin, a high school math and engineering teacher and father of a first grade son. “I understand the need for ruggedized devices but honestly, nothing is kid-proof. I'd choose the device based on available apps that I felt were beneficial for my kids.”
MacMartin also thinks a curated app store is unnecessary. He would prefer to evaluate the options and make the decisions on what apps are appropriate for his kids to download or not. There are thousands of apps on both iOS and Android that cater specifically to kids, and for helping them learn. PBS Kids' apps offer a colorful, cartoony way for youngsters to learn about animals and science, for example, while options like Answer Underground let older students get homework help from teachers and peers.
If limiting content is something you're interested in as a parent, Forrester analyst Sarah Rotman Epps noted that we’re already seeing a trend of grown-up tablets with kid-friendly features, like the Amazon Kindle Fire's Freetime feature, which gives each tablet user an individualized profile which a parent can have master control over.
You can enable restrictions on an iOS device within the General Settings menu, though, limiting the amount of time a device can be used for, what apps can be accessed, and whether in-app purchases are allowed, for example. In stock Android builds though, these sort of restrictions aren't so ready to be switched on.
Another point: For parents that have already introduced their kids to something like the iPad, another tablet could seem like a travesty.
Egor Azanov, father of 6- and 3-year-old boys who each have an iPad, says his kids are so deeply connected with their iPads, the threat of not having them (if they misbehave, for example) can whip them right into line. "I think buying them something else would be a hypocrisy because I can't imagine myself without an iPad -- it is really a part of me, just like an arm -- and kids see and feel that attitude very well," Ezanov said.
For a family that's sharing a device, the lack of that colorful, rubber, clearly "I'm for kids!" exterior can be a boon for parents who might want to take the device out in public. And ultimately, for kids, it's less about the package, and more about the content.
“[Kids are] drawn to whatever is easiest to use and will maintain their interest. The iPad holds their interest because there is a lot to do on it and the apps are simple to use,” Adams said.
Even so, kid-friendly tablets are making a big splash so far.
“The response so far (from retailers, media and consumers) has been overwhelmingly positive,” Polaroid’s Harding said of their tablet. Toys “R” Us’ Peterson said it has had great success in terms of high demand with its Tabeo tablet, beginning with pre-orders in September. They’ve even had to go back and produce more because demand was so high.
