Drive About Awarded CTR Editor's Choice!

Well, it's suddenly turned into an award-winning summer for Drive About: Number Neighborhood.

We were positively thrilled to receive the news that Drive About scored 96/100 and received the coveted Editor's Choice stamp of approval from the esteemed Children's Technology Review (October issue).

Some kind words lifted from the review...

 "The perfect "back to school" app for any preschooler headed for Kindergarten."

Check out their comprehensive (and most excellent) video overview:

Drive About Wins Parents' Choice Award!

We woke to some good news today.

Drive About: Number Neighborhood is a Parents' Choice Silver Award Winner in the 2014 Fall Mobile Apps category.

It sounds like they really like the sea pickles.

Here's some info from the official announcement:

Established in 1978, Parents’ Choice Foundation is the nation’s oldest nonprofit consumer guide to quality children’s media. As a Parents’ Choice Award® winner, you’re a member of a very select group. Fewer than 25% of the products submitted receive any level of commendation. It’s an honor that doesn’t come easily; you should be very proud of your achievement.

Check out the complete list of Winners here.

All You Need is (Apple) Love - One Month in the App Store...

It's been about a month since we launched our latest kids app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, and we were fortunate enough to hang around the App Store features the entire time. It's always good when your launch day looks like this:

  

 Even France showed us some "amour."

You never know how long the love will last though, so the Thursday App Store refresh becomes a major focal point of the week. The last app we released, Mystery Math Museum, was also featured at launch but was quickly moved to the back of the shelves. Drive About did double the business of Mystery Math Museum in the same sample time period.

Mystery Math Museum Launch October 2013 (iPad only) - 11/15 free promo

Drive About launch June 2014 (Universal iPad & iPhone)

It's really good to see our localization efforts pay off with substantial downloads in Russia, accounting for a little over 11% of total sales.

Tragically, the French "amour" did not translate to significant downloads - just over 1% of total sales. And our efforts to appeal to Brazil with a Portuguese version of the app fell flat - it's almost as though the entire nation was preoccupied by something else over the last month (we are investigating...)

Overall, I have to say I'm happy with the launch.

I was concerned about releasing the app in early June when most U.S. parents are transitioning from school to summer routines, but the results clearly demonstrate that all you need is (Apple) love.

Now, how to bundle that love for iOS 8...

FREE Alien Buddies Tomorrow 6/20

Start your summer with a splash!

Download our award-winning Alien Buddies app for FREE tomorrow - Friday, June 20 (normally $1.99).

Tell your friends!

(and don't forget your bathing suit)

A New Kids App In Town!

Drumroll...

We are happy to announce that our shiny new app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, is available today on the App Store!

Drive About: Number Neighborhood is a delightful way for preschool kids to explore early math concepts with 9 mini games that provide engaging practice in core concepts like:

• Counting
• Ordering
• Matching
• Number Identification
• Number Writing

Give your kids a license to drive a variety of vehicles across land, sea and air in an environment that encourages free play, exploration and fun.

Drive About: Number Neighborhood is a Universal iPad and iPhone app with localized versions available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Russian.

Wish You Were Here - App Launch Promos

When we launched Mystery Math Town, Lis and I came up with the idea of creating a set of virtual trading cards to introduce the townsfolk ahead of launch. The promotion was a big hit on our various social media streams so we wanted to try something like it for our new Drive About: Number Neighborhood app.

For Drive About, Lis made a series of promos inspired by classic travel posters to count down the days to our Thursday launch. Here they are at nearly full size and suitable for framing (if you run a travel agency for yaks, sheep and cows).

They're quite brilliant - don't you think?

Drive About: Number Neighborhood Arrives in the App Store on Thursday, 6/12

That New App Smell...

We got some really good news from Apple yesterday.

Our new app, Drive About: Number Neighborhood, passed inspection and it's ready for sale.

But you can't have it yet.

Why? Because we set our launch date to June 12.

Why? Again, you ask.

As much as we'd like to just rush our app immediately into the App Store, it's generally wise to control your launch.

The app is technically approved and ready which means we have 100 promo codes to share with whomever we like (yes, you can download and play your app with a promo code before it is live in the App Store). We'll use this time to distribute codes as a sneak preview for reviewers who * we hope * will have nice things to say about our new app. We've also suggested that they coordinate their reviews with our planned June 12 launch. And if they want to share some kind words before the launch, we can use those quotes in our launch promotions and our App Store description.

You only have one shot at being brand new, so make the most of it.

Drive About: Number Neighborhood Arrives in the App Store June 12