Echo Dot Kids Edition designed to get kids hooked on Amazon early

Amazon are looking to get kids hooked on their services before they’re even old enough to make a purchase. They’ve just rolled out a range of colourful kid friendly Echo Dot Kids Edition costing $79.99. This is a long term project which will ensure Kids are hooked into the Amazon ecosystem early in life – if they start out as a toddler with an Echo Dot in their bedroom it will be the go to device when they go to college and start their own families. That will ensure a new generation of Amazon addicts, many of whom will doubtless go on to sign up for Prime and become regular purchases in adulthood.

Echo Dot Kids Edition

The Echo Dot Kids Edition makes a lot of sense, millions of parents will have considered or made the purchase of Alexa powered Echo devices for their children’s bedrooms and the Kids Edition comes with FreeTime features and parental controls to ensure that only child friendly content is available.

The all-new Alexa experiences for kids and parents come with three options so even if you’ve already purchased an Echo for a child it can be made kid friends with Amazon FreeTime on Alexa, Amazon FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa, and Echo Dot Kids Edition.

1. Amazon FreeTime on Alexa brings parental controls and family-focused features to Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus at no cost. Simply add FreeTime to an existing or new Echo device to get started.
2. Amazon FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa, Amazon’s content subscription service for parents and kids, brings a wide selection of Alexa-specific content such as kid-friendly premium skills, Audible books, and more at no additional cost for existing FreeTime Unlimited members, or starting at $2.99 per month for Prime members.
3. Echo Dot Kids Edition is the easiest way to get started. It combines an Echo Dot, FreeTime features and parental controls, 1 year of FreeTime Unlimited, a kid-friendly case, and a 2-year worry-free guarantee. Cost is $79.99 and available for pre-order today with the release date set for the 9th of May 2018.

Amazon FreeTime on Alexa–Parental Controls and Family-Focused Features

Designed just for parents and kids, FreeTime on Alexa brings all-new Alexa features and parental controls to Echo, Echo Dot, or Echo Plus, including:

• Time Limits

  Set bedtime time limits to protect against kids talking with Alexa late into the night, or simply pause Echo devices for dinner or homework time.

• Parental Controls

  Use the Parent Dashboard and Alexa app to choose which services and skills kids can use, turn off voice purchasing, and more.

• Block Explicit Songs

  Both in the Alexa experience and FreeTime on Alexa experience, parents with Amazon Music now have the ability to filter playback of songs with explicit lyrics, and we’ll continue to add compatible music services to this feature over time.

• Activity Review

  Parent Dashboard allows parents to see their kid’s FreeTime on Alexa activity, plus review their voice recordings in the Alexa app.

• Magic Word

  The new Magic Word feature offers positive reinforcement when kids use the word “please” while asking questions of Alexa.

• Educational Q&A

  Kids can ask Alexa questions about science, math, spelling, definitions, or any other topic that piques their curiosity. Since Alexa is built in the cloud and always getting smarter, she’ll continue to learn new information every day.

• Alexa Speaks “Kid”

  Alexa has age-appropriate suggestions at the ready, all kids have to say is, “Alexa, I’m bored.” Kids can also ask for knock-knock jokes, ask Alexa for a song, and more. The more they use Alexa, the smarter she will get.

• Household Communications

  Gone are the days of shouting up the stairs for the kids to come down to dinner. FreeTime on Alexa allows for household announcements, calling, messaging, and Drop In within the home.
  Amazon FreeTime on Alexa will roll out to existing Echo, Echo Dot, and Echo Plus owners via a free, over-the-air software update starting May 9

Amazon FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa

FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa takes the best of Amazon’s existing all-in-one FreeTime Unlimited subscription and adds Alexa-specific content such as Audible books, kid-friendly premium skills, and more. With FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa, parents get all of the FreeTime parental controls and features mentioned above, plus unlimited access to kid-friendly content including:

• Over 300 Audible Books

  Kids will enjoy hours of entertaining and educational Audible books performed by some of their favorite characters and authors such as Peter Pan, Rip Van Winkle and more.

• Ad-Free, Kid-Friendly Stations & Playlists from iHeartRadio Family

  From Kids Hits to Radio Disney, kids will love the thousands of songs from playlists and custom stations available.

• Premium Alexa Kid Skills from Top Brands

  With all-new Alexa skills like Disney’s Disney Stories, Nickelodeon’s No Way That’s True, and National Geographic’s This or That, kids can explore Alexa skills developed by the best in kids’ entertainment and education.

• Wake Up to Favorite Characters

  Kids can start the day with alarms featuring their favorite characters from Disney, Nickelodeon, and more.

• One Subscription, Unlimited Possibilities

  With a FreeTime Unlimited on Alexa subscription kids can also access thousands of games, apps, videos, books, and more on Fire tablets, including Fire Kids Edition tablets, Android tablets, and Android phones.