by
Martin Banks
The main reason is that, increasingly, youngsters use smartphones with few, if any, controls. Therefore, producers of such technology need to pay close attention to the security and practicality of these devices so as to avoid the dissemination of inappropriate material. This is where mobile apps for children will play an increasingly important role in the future.
Kids’ mobile apps should be designed to provide them with an interactive and educational platform, but this is not always the case – sometimes they are used to promote expensive in-app purchases or, worse, the spread of inappropriate material. That’s why consumers, especially the young, need to be safeguarded in their daily use of tech devices.. The World Economic Forum has issued digital intelligence guidelines for those who want to install apps on tech devices for children. These state that the app should be targeted for a specific age range or should have age-oriented levels of difficulty.
The app should, says the Forum, be well crafted, not be subjected to sudden blocks or to bugs and be "developmentally appropriate." It should also have clear privacy and safety recommendations and "strictly avoid violence, sex and inappropriate language, both in their direct expression and in indirect references." This means producers have to meet extremely high quality standards before uploading their apps onto the mobile operating systems such as iOS and Android.
One of the many market players aiming to use their technology to make the world a safer place for children is Digital Television Russia (DTR), a basic and premium Pay TV broadcaster owned by Russian State Television VGTRK and broadband service provider Rostelecom. It offers a 21 channels’ platform dedicated to children and factual entertainment. The most popular kids channel is Interactive MOOLT,launched in July 2015 as the interactive games branch of the Russian state television which has since released eight apps available on both iOS and Android.
In addition to being a leading digital animation producer in Russia and CIS countries, Interactive MOOLT is nowadays one of the top 5 developers of educational mobile apps for children. According to Signal Media, DTR’s partner, there have been 10m downloads of Interactive MOOLT apps and it commands a monthly audience of 2m viewers.
MOOLT producer Alexey Ilin says its popularity is partly because the market is favourable to education mobile apps. He said:"Playing is a vital aspect of child's development and children's mobile games are a convenient and modern product of our digital technology age.We’re delighted so many parents choose apps by Interactive MOOLT for their kids." This, he believes,is also due to the good quality of the product itself.
Interactive MOOLT aims to teach a specific set of skills, ranging from developing attention span and focus to boosting memory, creative and logic thinking. The key aim is to enable children to develop a better comprehension of the surrounding world in a safe interactive environment. Among the most popular apps are “Be-be-bears”, an educational mobile game based on a cartoon series and the first app to be released on iOS and Android in April 2016. It was voted one of the best iPad apps of 2016 and featured in Google Play Editor's “top 5 family games.” Other best sellers are “Paper Tales” which aims to increase a child’s children’s creative thinking, and “Rolando Locomotov”. This provides users with advice and tasks boosting concentration and logic.
Originally aimed at the domestic market, Interactive MOOLT’s products are now rapidly gaining more followers outside Russia and CIS countries. This is thanks to the massive and meticulous translation of the mobile apps which seeks to guarantee optimal adaptation for an international audience.
The apps have been translated into nine different languages, including Chinese and Hindi which represent indeed two of DTR’s biggest markets. A company source told this website: “Despite encouraging results in the first two years, Interactive MOOLT doesn’t intend to rest on its laurels and plans to develop new ideas for the next best educational mobile apps for children which, most importantly, also comply with parental control criteria.”
By: N. Peter Kramer
