LeapFrog Expanding Leapstar App Center with Third-Party Developer Titles

The company launched the App Center in December and has so far assembled a roster of about 10 developers, ranging from Little Pim and Zinika Entertainment to Discovery Communications, Nickelodeon and Scholastic, that are creating titles for the LeapPad2 tablet ($99) and LeapstarGS handheld ($69). The third-party developers have so far focused on music and video titles like Nickeolodeon’s Blues Clues Big Party, a 148 MB title containing three, 30-minute episodes that sells for $7.50. LeapFrog, with its staff of game developers and designers, has handled interactive content like the 151 MB Music Studio ($10), but will add outside firms by fall, said Monica Brown, senior product marketing director. About 30 to 40 percent of the App Center’s current 150 titles are supplied by third-party firms, Engleheart said.

New batches of titles are released every three weeks, including 11 applications on Tuesday, Brown said. The apps range in price from 148 MB Sesame Street Volume Three: Happy Scientist ($5) to Nicekodeon’s Dora the Explorer ($25). The apps are spread across nine categories stretching from Just For Fun and to the recently introduced Foreign Language category that features language learning fare from developer Little Pim that currently includes English as a Second Language, French and Spanish, and will add German, Italian and Mandarin Chinese by fall, Brown said. Another creator is Zinika Entertainment, which co-produces the Spanish pre-school animation series Pocoyo, she said. The app roster include Ultra eBooks, that features nine different titles, including Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell’s True Talent, with three different embedded reading levels that test a child’s word recognition and vocabulary skills, Engleheart said. “The idea is to get out a range of content that appeals to a range of ages, typically three- to seven-year-olds, Brown said.

LeapFrog will continue with the eight titles it sells through Apple’s iTunes store for 99 cents, including My Pal Scout: ABC Garden. But the company’s development focus has shifted to its own app store, Brown said. LeapFrog launched the first of its iTunes titles last year. It also is continuing to create cartridge-based games that were first developed for Leapster Express, adding 17 new titles this year to increase the library to 35, Engleheart said. The 40 to 60 MB cartridges sell for $24.99, are compatible with LeapsterDS and LeapPad2 and include new releases Disney-Pixar Brave and SpongeBob Clam Prix Kart Racing.

The new content comes as LeapFrog upgrades hardware to LeapPad2 and LeapsterGS, which shift to 550 MHZ custom ASICs from 393 MHz in the earlier versions, Engleheart said. The LeapsterGS and LeapPad2 increase memory to 2 GB and 4 GB, respectively from 512 MB and 2 GB with LeapFrog’s Linux-based proprietary operating system requiring 300 to 400 MB of storage, Engelheart said. The LeapstarGS also adds a built-in two megapixel camera front facing camera, while LeapPad2 has two megapixel front and rear-facing cameras, up from a 0.3-megapixel rear version in the first LeapPad. The LCD resolutions for both products remains at 480 x 272, but LeapsterGS moves to a 3.5 inch display from 3.2 inches, while the LeapPad2 remains at five inches. The LeapPad2 tablet also continues with a stylus and capacitive touch technology.

The LeapSterGS and LeapPad2 each operate on four AA batteries with 10- and 9-hour run times. But the device also can use rechargeable batteries, which in the case of the LeapPad2 are recommended to be 2,000-milliamperes or higher, LeapFrog officials said. LeapsterGS accessories include a recharger pack ($39), car adapter ($14.99), headphones ($14.99) and carrying case ($14.99). The LeapPad2 will be part of a Disney Princess package ($129) that includes a carrying case and seven different wallpapers.

In addition to the new handheld and tablet products, LeapFrog is readying a Touch Magic line of four products that employ capacitive touch technology. The Touch Magic Learning Bus, which takes children through the alphabet and musical instruments, features a capacitive surface with 44 touch points, a LeapFrog spokesman said. Also available is the Touch Magic Rockin Guitar, Discovery Town and Counting Train. The guitar is preloaded with 10 songs including Rockin Robin, Itsy Bitsy Spider and Pop Goes the Weasel. It has touch points on the guitar body and fret. They're $24.99 each.

Meanwhile, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison’s recent selloff of 270,000 shares of LeapFrog stock is part of a pre-arranged trading plan, a LeapFrog spokeswoman said. Ellison, who controls 2.37 million shares through Mollusk Holdings, has been a long-time LeapFrog stockholder. Ellison sold the stock in nine transactions of 30,000 shares each between June 12 and Thursday, LeapFrog said in an SEC filing. The sale prices ranged from $9.87 on June 13 to $10.19 on Monday, LeapFrog said.