It's easy to see when you view the Android Education Market that one particular developer has dominated the top ten - Intellijoy.
I had the opportunity to discuss Intellijoy with their Director of Business Development, Alex Turetsky.
According to Mr. Turetsky, Intellijoy was formed when his background in software development and his wife's background in special education came together to combat a tricky problem. When searching the Android market for good educational apps for their five young children, the Turetskys realized quickly that educational apps often fell into one of two categories - fun, but not educational, or educational, but not fun. They also noticed that most of the available apps had poorly-designed interface and were full of bugs. It was then that the Turetskys were inspired to create some apps that were both fun and educational at the same time. Google quickly took notice of their apps and almost every app they created was featured by Google. Intellijoy has also enjoyed great parent reviews that have boosted them to the top of the Education section of the Android Market.
When I asked why Intellijoy choose to focus solely on development in the Android Market, Mr. Turetsky explained that his choice was based on the fact that he already had top notch Java developers working for him and that given Google’s interest in continuously featuring the apps, their time and money are best spent here. Still, to make their apps more universally applicable, Mr. Turetsky said that plans are now underway to port their apps to the iOS platform.
While most of Intellijoy's games are meant for kids to play at home, the company soon discovered that many teachers love their apps and are looking for ways to use them in the classroom. So, together with Avantis, Intellijoy is now beginning to market a so-called LearnPad - a tablet containing their games and other educational games, aimed at schools. Keep your eye out for more information on this in the future!
Since many teachers see a benefit to being able to monitor multiple students' progress, Intellijoy is considering plans to include this type of functionality, noting that the priority on this will likely increase as they make more efforts in the school market.
Intellijoy is also aware of the need for creating assistive technology to help students with special needs. They are almost done putting together a tablet aimed at the Autistic market. Among other games that cater to all kids, it will be loaded with educational games aimed at helping autistic kids who have trouble with generalization and need photographs rather than cartoony-type images. It will also have an AAC-type application for high-quality digital audio. While this specialized tablet will help to focus assistive technology, Intellijoy has discovered, based on the user feedback, that even their regular apps have done wonders for kids with autism. Parents have reported that the fact that there is no "disconnect" between the child and the screen, as opposed to computer games where a child interacts with the screen using a mouse, makes all the difference. As a result, kids that have never been able to say words before are now doing it using Intellijoy's games. This, incidentally, is a key factor for non-autistic kids as well. When there is no aforementioned "disconnect," kids are able to play our games and learn phonics and math at much earlier age. A very large percentage of Intellijoy's users are only 2 years old.
When asked about Intellijoy's future, Mr. Turetsky reflected, "The key to our future success is in staying focused. That means staying focused on young kids. Staying focused on specifically educational games. Those are the anchors that will allow us to stay grounded as we expand into the school market, the autistic market, the iPhone App Store and to continue thriving in the Android Market."
Stay tuned for more on Intellijoy's apps!!
According to Mr. Turetsky, Intellijoy was formed when his background in software development and his wife's background in special education came together to combat a tricky problem. When searching the Android market for good educational apps for their five young children, the Turetskys realized quickly that educational apps often fell into one of two categories - fun, but not educational, or educational, but not fun. They also noticed that most of the available apps had poorly-designed interface and were full of bugs. It was then that the Turetskys were inspired to create some apps that were both fun and educational at the same time. Google quickly took notice of their apps and almost every app they created was featured by Google. Intellijoy has also enjoyed great parent reviews that have boosted them to the top of the Education section of the Android Market.
When I asked why Intellijoy choose to focus solely on development in the Android Market, Mr. Turetsky explained that his choice was based on the fact that he already had top notch Java developers working for him and that given Google’s interest in continuously featuring the apps, their time and money are best spent here. Still, to make their apps more universally applicable, Mr. Turetsky said that plans are now underway to port their apps to the iOS platform.
While most of Intellijoy's games are meant for kids to play at home, the company soon discovered that many teachers love their apps and are looking for ways to use them in the classroom. So, together with Avantis, Intellijoy is now beginning to market a so-called LearnPad - a tablet containing their games and other educational games, aimed at schools. Keep your eye out for more information on this in the future!
Since many teachers see a benefit to being able to monitor multiple students' progress, Intellijoy is considering plans to include this type of functionality, noting that the priority on this will likely increase as they make more efforts in the school market.
Intellijoy is also aware of the need for creating assistive technology to help students with special needs. They are almost done putting together a tablet aimed at the Autistic market. Among other games that cater to all kids, it will be loaded with educational games aimed at helping autistic kids who have trouble with generalization and need photographs rather than cartoony-type images. It will also have an AAC-type application for high-quality digital audio. While this specialized tablet will help to focus assistive technology, Intellijoy has discovered, based on the user feedback, that even their regular apps have done wonders for kids with autism. Parents have reported that the fact that there is no "disconnect" between the child and the screen, as opposed to computer games where a child interacts with the screen using a mouse, makes all the difference. As a result, kids that have never been able to say words before are now doing it using Intellijoy's games. This, incidentally, is a key factor for non-autistic kids as well. When there is no aforementioned "disconnect," kids are able to play our games and learn phonics and math at much earlier age. A very large percentage of Intellijoy's users are only 2 years old.
When asked about Intellijoy's future, Mr. Turetsky reflected, "The key to our future success is in staying focused. That means staying focused on young kids. Staying focused on specifically educational games. Those are the anchors that will allow us to stay grounded as we expand into the school market, the autistic market, the iPhone App Store and to continue thriving in the Android Market."
Stay tuned for more on Intellijoy's apps!!
