One of the new features being introduced in Windows Phone 8 is Kid’s Corner. This will be an area, like a sandbox, that you can setup for your children to use instead of having access to the whole phone or playground to continue our analogy.
As great as this area is it still requires some work from you as the parent to decide what apps your child will have access to in that area of the phone.
Well a great resource for just that purpose is now marking being on the web for one year – let me tell you about Windows Phone Parent.
The Windows Phone app review website emerged when a Windows Phone fan, a mother of two, tried to find high quality Windows Phone apps for her kids and herself in the Windows Phone App Store, which now contains almost 120,000 applications, but offers only basic app discovery features.
Initially her idea was to simply catalog a few kid’s apps and to write app reviews once in a while, but the project has taken on a life of its own. In the past year, Windows Phone Parent has not only catalogued almost 200 family-friendly apps and published more than 50 app reviews, but has also launched Familia Windows Phone to promote Windows Phone apps to the 17 Spanish-speaking markets available in the Windows Phone App Store. They have also produced many promotional featuring animated characters made using Windows Phone applications, launched a beta version their app and gained more than 1000 followers across their various Social Networks.
Sandra Sears, a user experience professional with a background in education and Co-founder of Windows Phone Parent, has collaborated with Windows Phone app developers from all over the world, on how to improve their Windows Phone applications on the areas of usability, Metro design implementation and educational value. Many developers have benefited from Windows Phone Parent app promotion as well. Suzanne, a developer in the United States, reported a in her app usage over a period of 70 days after her app was added to the Windows Phone Parent catalog. Rene, a developer in Germany, reported how his app downloads tripled for the week after his app was included in a seasonal app special that included a video promotion and a top-ten countdown list.
On the eve of its first anniversary, Windows Phone Parent has officially launched its first two apps in the Windows Phone App Store: and . Sandra and Patrick Sears, Windows Phone Parent founders, hope to provide an easier way for parents to find apps on the go, to expand their support to the development community in the English and Spanish speaking markets and to continue to be an integral part of the Windows Phone ecosystem as parents, fans and developers.
So if you are an app developer and believe it is the right kind of app for children and teens make sure you contact the Windows Phone Parent site about it.
I did ask Sandra via Twitter about their plans to include Windows Phone 8 apps on their site and support the new Kid’s Corner feature and she responded with an enthusiastic “Yeap!”
She also said that their recently released apps for Windows Phone 7.X would also be updated to support the new Windows Phone 8 system.
Congratulations on one year Windows Phone Parent!
