All posts tagged: kidsapps

Fortnite Fined Billions for Deceiving Children — Swedish Parents Can Claim

December 20, 2022
by Björn Jeffery
SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on December 20th, 2022. This piece was translated from Swedish by Claude. Some phrasing may differ from a human translation. The makers of Fortnite are facing billion-dollar fines for deceiving children. But the true scale of the problem is far larger — and the white lies are many. Did your children accidentally buy a llama or a battle pass in Fortnite? If so, you may […]

Apps are abused – and it’s their own fault

November 29, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
SvD Näringsliv

This analysis was first published in SvD Näringsliv, in Swedish, on November 29, 2020. This piece was translated from Swedish by Claude. Some phrasing may differ from a human translation. SvD’s exposé of the app companies shows how difficult it is to prevent and catch those who exploit children. But the fact that the technology is used in a way that was not intended is no excuse. Instead, it should be the starting point for a […]

Designing with asymmetry: Enabling people to share an experience in different ways

July 15, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
The Daily

Letting everyone have the same experience sounds good and fair. In reality, this way of designing excludes people that are different, or have different circumstances. Allowing experiences to be asymmetric can be a way of sharing without having to be identical. When I worked in media research many years ago, a common consumer question was “What kind of TV do you watch?“. The answer was almost always “documentaries“. You could then place an ethnographer in […]

A tribute to Joan Ganz Cooney

February 4, 2020
by Björn Jeffery
The Daily

As a celebration of Joan Ganz Cooney’s first report on kids and media (re-issued here), I wrote a post for their blog. It is about finding a spark of inspiration in times where things might seem a little bleak. A bit like the kids app market today. Here’s my attempt to remember the big picture and the great opportunities that are ahead: At times like this, it is important to remember the big picture. We […]

The Kids App Market, Part 3: A Wish List

June 20, 2019
by Björn Jeffery
The Daily

As my third and final post on the kids app market, I have made a wish list. What if things were different? How could the market improve? Even if all of my wishes were to come true, the majority of the market complexities would remain. Your user is not your customer. That won’t ever change. But as I’ve stated before – things can still improve. All parts of the ecosystem can do better. This wish […]

The Kids App Market, Part 2: Q&A

June 6, 2019
by Björn Jeffery
The Daily

My last post about the kids app market received a lot of interest and a fair bit of feedback too. It’s very rewarding to write when people take the time to read it. Thank you. To honor the feedback that I got, I will address a few additions and questions here below. The third and last part of this series will be a wish list of improvements and changes that I think would improve the […]

The Kids App Market, Part 1: A Strategic Overview

May 31, 2019
by Björn Jeffery
The Daily

How do you take on a market where the user isn’t your customer? A market that overlaps and competes with four major industries, but doesn’t belong to any of them? These are questions I have been working with for the past nine years. Since 2010, I’ve been in the kids app market. First it was as CEO and Co-Founder of Toca Boca, and more recently as an independent advisor. Still to this day, I get […]