Software MacKiev Acquires Kid Pix® Brand From Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

BOSTON, Oct. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Software MacKiev, an award winning developer and publisher of consumer and education software, announced today that the company has purchased the Kid Pix software brand from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and has enlisted the assistance of Kid Pix creator, Craig Hickman, in designing future editions.  Kid Pix joins the company's HyperStudio® brand, which Software MacKiev acquired from Sunburst Technologies in 2007, in a growing line of multimedia creativity tools for the home and education markets.

The company also announced today the introduction of a new Kid Pix PC edition for home and schools, Kid Pix 3D for Windows, which emphasizes communication and creativity skills, adding video narration, easy path animation, and a flipbook creation tool. The Mac edition of Kid Pix 3D has already won a number of awards, including a Parent's Choice Silver Honor Award, and an Editor's Choice Award for Excellence in Design from Children's Technology Review. Mac and Windows versions are both available from Software MacKiev's web store, and a free 15-day trial can be downloaded from www.kidpix.com.

"It's a dream come true to be the owners of this much-loved children's software brand," remarked Jack Minsky, Software MacKiev's president. "Software MacKiev has been involved in the creation of Mac editions of Kid Pix since 1998, more than half of the brand's life to date, and we are looking forward to exploring how Kid Pix can help build the kind of 21st century skills that the next generation of young learners is going to need."

Kid Pix was created in 1988 by Craig Hickman, and was published by Broderbund in the early 1990s. An elegantly simple drawing, painting and presentation program with a fun personality, Kid Pix has been surprising and delighting children in classrooms around the world for more than two decades, and has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

"I am thrilled to hear about Kid Pix's new home," said Craig Hickman, the original creator of Kid Pix.  "Software MacKiev has already developed an excellent version of the program, and now that Kid Pix is totally under Software MacKiev's direction I expect it to expand and thrive while maintaining its hallmark simplicity. The future looks bright for the Undo Guy."

Pricing and Availability

The Mac and Windows editions of Kid Pix 3D are available for immediate purchase from the Software MacKiev Web store (www.mackiev.com) for $49.95. The Mac edition can also be purchased at all Apple retail stores in the US and Canada, and from the Mac App Store worldwide. Educational discounts are available for multiple copies for schools.

About Software MacKiev

Software MacKiev is a leading developer and publisher of award-winning consumer and educational software, including Kid Pix®, HyperStudio®, The Print Shop® for Mac, Mavis Beacon® Teaches Typing, ClueFinders®, Edmark® Thinkin' Things, three Dr. Seuss titles, World Book® Multimedia Encyclopedia, and 3D Weather Globe™ & Atlas.  Software MacKiev is also the world's largest full-service development company dedicated to assisting other software publishers in adopting Apple technologies in their products.

About Craig Hickman

Besides being the creator of the original Kid Pix, Craig Hickman is a Professor of Digital Arts at the University of Oregon. His specialties are interactive design, physical computing and photography. He was also one of the founding members of Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, Oregon, one of the oldest and most respected alternative photography galleries in the world.

For more information, please visit www.mackiev.com or write to: info@mackiev.com.

SOURCE Software MacKiev