Samsung Teams with Kids' Mobile Technology Co. for Mobile App Network

Samsung Electronics recently partnered with Fingerprint, a kids’ mobile technology company, to develop a mobile app network in Southeast Asia and Oceania in Q1 2014.

The network will offer play-based learning for kids 3-7 years old and will be available on select Samsung devices, serving as a safe place for kids to play and learn. This service is part of Samsung's Kids' Play-and-Learn Content Initiative, which promotes the creation of play-and-learn Android apps for kids in Southeast Asia and Oceania.

"We are very excited about partnering with Fingerprint," said Nicholas Wodtke, vice president of content and services at Samsung Electronics Media Solution Center Southeast Asia and Oceania. "Asia has a young demographic base and a rapidly growing middle class. There are an estimated 50m1 kids in the age group of 3-7 years in Southeast Asia. Samsung is focused on bringing to market a service that offers a safe mobile play and learn environment for kids."

Learning through play is not a new idea, although it has certainly gotten a new twist with the proliferation of smart mobile devices and apps. Through play, children learn about themselves, their environment, people and the world around them. As they play, children learn to solve problems and to get along with others. They enhance their creativity and develop leadership skills and healthy personalities.

Mobile devices and the slew of new applications offer kids a new way to learn while having fun. Just about every category of learning is covered in Apple’s and Google’s app stores.

Video games and apps offer ways for kids to collaborate, take turns and learn basic principles of teamwork and sharing, while increasing logical thinking, grasping the interrelationship of various inputs, and developing motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

Initiatives like the one from Samsung and Fingerprint look to help parents navigate which apps and games are best suited for their kids while providing a positive play experience.

Fingerprint expects to bring 50 new developers from 20 countries to market in the next year.