Need help on an application we are working on

[bi-lo]

Apart from my boutique I also worked (part-time) in a software company. I need help with analyzing an idea. We are working on an app and I wanted to get your thoughts (or gut feel about it). We plan to make a sort of 'Whatsapp for kids' It will be for iPod, iPhone and iPad.
The difference is that parents can see all the conversation their kid is having. If they trust the kid on other end, they can mark that kid as trusted and the conversation between the two kids can not be seen by the parent. A kids can chat with only those who are in her/his address book and only parent can add kids to that address book.

You think this kind of product will fly? Kids will want to chat and parents will be willing to make the effort to set it up and add people to kid's address book?

Thanks in Advance!

 

[pearson114]

Hmmm. I'm not sure on the idea.

Going back a few years to when I was 10 years old - the conversations I had with my friends included the likes of "Remember when we jumped off that garage roof", "Did you kiss Stacey in the school corridor" or "I can't believe my mum has just grounded me, I only swore once, I hate her sometimes, I want to run away!". I wouldn't have said those things if I knew my parents could read every word.

Now, I'm a parent myself. And I wouldn't want to be reading my child's every conversation. What is your target age group for the app? Most kids with smart phones, and therefore able to use the app, I suspect will be in high school, and I highly doubt they'd buy into the idea.

 

[True Position]

Do you have any way to prevent the kids from just using iMessage, SMS, or Whatsapp instead of your surveillance app? Wouldn't all parents need to force their children to use this application for it to work in the first place?

You'd do better creating hidden spyware if your goal is to sell something to allow parents to snoop on their children. Also, the reason Whatsapp is popular is because it is multi-platform (and does not run up your number of SMS for those who are on limited plans.)

 

[insect warfare]

I tend to agree with the rest of these posts on the buy-in factor. Kids have so many avenues to communication these days, plus social networking is everywhere, and pretty much a saturated market.

I would think that for something like this to gain any traction, you probably need to have what they call in the pitching business a "WOW" factor. I remember (in particular) the Billy Mays infomercial for "Impact Gel" where they show the product wrapped around his hand while he wails on it with a hammer, driving a car over his hand, only to come out unscathed. Totally unrelated to the intended function (I think it was supposed to be a sole cushion or something), but it got people's attention in a big way (hence the WOW).



Brian

 

[bi-lo]

Useful. We are thinking about these points. Thanks a lot.