Crowe is co-founder of KnackMaster, a Washington-based company that launched an educational iPhone application this week. The app, Enzo & Friends: “Neat Bed,” tries to teach 3- to 7-year-olds about the importance of doing household chores. It is available for download in the Apple App Store.
An iPhone app for 3-year-olds?
It’s designed for the parents who have iPhones and iPad devises, and they’re sharing those devices with their children.
Are children that young able to use iPhones?
Absolutely. It’s intuitive if you watch them play with the iPad devices and play games on them.
Is there a market for apps aimed at children?
Definitely. There’s a huge market, and we were looking to make it something educational. We didn’t see anything on the market that really was teaching children how to do their chores.
Do you think apps are a new way to reach kids?
Definitely. We saw a digital divide and saw this as a way for the parents to connect with the children in the digital landscape.
Have you made children’s books or anything with the Enzo characters?
This is the first thing we’ve created, and we decided to launch it by the application. We did receive a startup grant from Nokia to help fund the development.
How much does Enzo & Friends cost?
It’s free for a limited time. Our goal right now is to build an audience and to really have people fall in love with Enzo & Friends. We will be charging for subsequent versions of the applications. … There are no in-app purchases.
How has it done so far?
[Hours after it launched it] was over 50 downloads, which is great. … We want as many people to know about it as possible. We’re a startup company. There are two of us who are working on it.
– Jacob Demmitt
