“One iPad isn’t enough for Patrick Smith’s family,” Adam Satariano and Katie Linsell report for Bloomberg.
“Smith, an American Web designer living in Germany, has two kids vying for their tablet computer. The youngest started tapping and finger-swiping the screen by age 1, leading to tussles over who gets to play with the Apple Inc. device. Now Smith is considering buying another tablet for Christmas,” Satariano and Linsell report. “‘It’s usually a fight to decide whose turn it is,’ said Smith, whose sons are now 2 and 5.”
Satariano and Linsell report, “About 61 percent of iPad buyers are parents, estimates BlueKai Inc., which compiles consumer data. The market’s growth isn’t just generating revenue for tablet makers, it’s increasing demand for kid-oriented content. Companies ranging from Walt Disney Co. to small startups are developing games, interactive books and other software to appeal to children.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Ellis D.” for the heads up.]
Whoduh thought iPad would be for pre-schoolers?
And kittens!
A 2-yr old and 5-yr old can’t be as bad as 5-yr old twins, one boy one girl. One always want’s what the other one has, and it’s why we get two of everything, pretty much identical (except color – one has to be pink). When we got our iPhone 4Ss we passed our 3GS phones to them, but they still fight over the one iPad2. The girl usually gets it first, cause she cries louder.
So even though the iPad does work well as a pacifier, it usually causes a brief ruckus in the house when one wants it.
The iPad is truly the computer for the rest of us.
Of course there’s a danger when the very young don’t learn how to deal with or manipulate objects outside the iPad’s virtual world. One toddler reportedly kept trying to “swipe” the image on the family TV, insisting to the family that “TV broken!”
The toddler is right. The family TV is broken… same, tired interface that hasn’t kept up with the times. Just wait for Steve Job’s vision for an AppleTV to set things right!
My 9-year-old has got an iPod nano that our 2 1/2 year old used to watch Toy Story 3 on . . . until she found out she can stream Dora and Caillou and watch TS3 in HD on a much bigger screen.
Just last night as I’m settling into a couch and an NFL game, she comes whining to me, “I want to watch Woody!” I yell for my boy to give up us nano and before I can finish she says, clear as day, “No, daddy. I want the iPad!”
I always figured I’d sell my original iPad when I upgrade to the iPad 3, but I think I’ll be hanging on to it.