Tablets and Apps for Kids From VINCI

Like many of today's children, Dan Yang's young daughter was exposed to technology at an early age, often playing with her mother's iPhone. As Yang looked into introducing her child to technology responsibly, she saw that there was very little educational technology designed for kids. In addition, smartphones and tablets are built with materials that may be hazardous to youngsters. Yang, an entrepreneur and optical engineer, therefore started VINCI Early Learning Systems using $10 million of her personal savings.

Two child-friendly tablets form the cornerstone of the system: the 7-inch VINCI Tab II, which features a protective soft-cornered handle made from food-grade material, and the 5-inch VINCI Tab II M, a more affordable and portable version of the former that can be linked to other Tab II M's for group playing. Both devices are powered by the Android platform and come with a number of pre-installed apps such as Google Play, Adobe Reader, and QuickOffice.

Yang, with the assistance of experts, also developed the VINCI Curriculum, which is divided into three levels: babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Designed to run only on the VINCI tablets, the learning materials help develop thinking skills, emotional and social skills, language and literacy, maths and logical reasoning, science, and general knowledge.

Recently, VINCI launched its app library for kids. There are currently over 500 apps and videos that are free for a limited time. Some are from noted educational content providers such as The Jim Henson Company, TVO, and Mightybooks. The VINCI Kids Library promises to be free of commercials, violence, adult content, and in-app purchases. Yang and company are also inviting developers to submit more content to the library – qualified apps get a 75 percent revenue share. The VINCI Kids Library will be making its way to other Android devices soon and is expected to have 1,000 titles by the end of the year.