VTech® Unveils Ground-Breaking Family Communication App For InnoTab® 3S

CHICAGO, Sept. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- VTech®, a pioneer in Wi-Fi enabled children's learning tablets, today announced the availability of VTech Kid Connect for the InnoTab® 3S. Extending the company's 30-plus-year history of innovation, VTech's InnoTab 3S is the only children's learning tablet to offer this unique, ground-breaking communication app that brings families together. Whether they are at daycare, a neighbor's house or across the country visiting grandparents, VTech Kid Connect helps parents stay connected to their kids when apart – anytime, anywhere.

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With secure and easy-to-use tablet-to-mobile communication^[1], preschoolers as young as three years old can emulate their parents and older siblings, allowing them to feel like they are part of the messaging trend by sending text messages and cute animated stickers to parents' smartphones, all from a kid-safe, kid-friendly tablet. In return, parents can send text messages and stickers back to their child's InnoTab 3S, opening up an interactive dialogue. Plus, kids can stay connected to their friends and siblings by exchanging messages safely between two InnoTab 3S tablets^[2] anywhere in the world, regardless of how far apart they are. Since only devices approved by parents can communicate with their children's InnoTab 3S, they can rest assured their children are only communicating with people they know and trust, making VTech Kid Connect a true breakthrough in kid-safe family networking.

Access to VTech Kid Connect is free for one-year with the purchase of an InnoTab 3S^[3]. The Premium Kid Connect app includes even more enhanced features, allowing kids and parents to send each other voice messages, photos and drawings, as well as texts and animated stickers – communication features typically reserved for adults, finally made just for kids. The premium version is now available as a paid download through VTech's Learning Lodge™ app store – home to over 600 titles^[4] of educator-approved downloadable content and curriculum for purchase.

"We are thrilled to introduce VTech Kid Connect, which truly gives kids a means to 'message' their parents and siblings the way they see their parents messaging on their own phones," said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. "And, the beauty of the premium package is that for the first-time ever kids can send voice messages^[5], providing even our youngest users with a way to wirelessly communicate with their parents no matter how far apart they are. This means parents and kids can feel closer when they are away from each other due to work, school or other circumstances."

"In this digital world, kids are becoming tech-savvy earlier in life, so parents have an opportunity to connect with them in additional ways," said Dr. Eric Klopfer, VTech Toy Development Consultant and Learning Expert. "Communication apps like VTech Kid Connect are an innovative way to provide new channels through which parents and kids can connect.  Digital communication adds a fun new dimension to parent-child interaction, which comes in particular handy when parents and children are at a distance."

InnoTab 3S retails for $99.99 and is recommended for children 3 to 9 years old. The InnoTab family also includes the recently announced, compact and affordable InnoTab 3 (MSRP $69.99) as well as InnoTab Baby (MSRP $89.00), with content geared toward little learners 12 months and up, meaning there is an InnoTab product for every child, at every price point.

For more information about the complete InnoTab product range, please visit http://www.vtechkids.com/kidconnect.

About VTech®
VTech^® is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children's development and make learning fun. With a rich, almost 35 year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with award-winning products such as the InnoTab^® 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet, one of the first children's learning-based tablets with Wi-Fi, MobiGo^®, V.Reader^® and V.Smile^®. The Learning Lodge™, VTech's comprehensive app store, features a robust library of more than 350 educational and entertaining games, e-books, music and videos with engaging age-appropriate content across the widest variety of curricula, with content expanding to offer more than 600 titles by the end of 2013. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant and preschool products available in 24 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. In order to further strengthen VTech's position as a learning authority, the company's Advisory Council, with esteemed experts in reading, language arts, science, math, and child development, consult on new product introductions and Learning Lodge content.

VTech Electronics North America, LLC is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally. VTech is the largest supplier of ELPs from infancy to preschool in the US and Western  Europe.

For more information on VTech's additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.

SOURCE VTech