A Puzzling Situation with a Puzzle-Based Solution
There have been many changes in the mobile-application industry in recent times. Some of the noteworthy changes have been given below.
- Inclusion of new, hedonic themes in applications for all age groups
- Updates made to the Google Play Developer Program Policies
- Increase in the usage of in-app purchases
The theme for this endeavor of mine covers the third point from the angle of customers and developers. Let’s view the development scenario first through the points given below.
- Major mobile-app developers have conveniently used in-app purchases, but on a positive side.
- They have kept the end-customer in mind while incorporating in-app purchases in their latest releases.
Let’s view the customer angle in term of the points given below.
- Recent news about iPad- and iPhone-owners having to shell out alarming amounts for unintentional purchases made by their children has raised concerns among parents globally.
- Parents are inevitably faced with the concern, “Can safety be guaranteed, as far as unintentional downloads are concerned”?
The customer-perspective given above is indeed a cause for alarm; however, parents can stay safe simply by understanding the concept of in-app purchases completely.
In-app purchases take place in two ways:
- Purchasing the complete version of an application.
- Purchasing bonus packs, level-ups etc. for certain sums of money.
The first way is a one-time activity and therefore bereft of financial potholes, however it all depends on the individuals using the applications, as far as the second way is concerned.
For example, game-based apps like Subway Surf and Candy Crush allow purchase of level-ups in real-time. Hence, there is nothing to stop someone bent on purchasing level-ups or bonuses again-and-again for each and every level of the game. This “someone” is generally a child and this is where parents have to understand their role as monitors while their children use applications.
Now, having described in-app purchases and the role of parents regarding these purchases let me put forth a wonderful example of an application that I downloaded for my nephew. For all those who are expecting a lucid account each and every feature of this application, I hate to say that I won’t be doing that at all.
Rather the intention here is to showcase a wonderful application that has made my life easy with not having to worry about multiple purchases. Yes, I am talking about the first type of in-app purchases.
This particular application is called Kids Animal Picture Puzzles and belongs to the genre of educational games in the puzzle format.
I am not a big fan of puzzles as educational tools because they seem to be extremely limited in terms of their learning abilities. After all, puzzles according to me improve motor skills among children especially the ones that come created out of cardboard or other materials and therefore improve the pincer grasp among children. Then why did I download this application?
Well to be very frank, I had a look at this it in all its glory through my cousin’s smart phone. The features of this game have made me into a believer of puzzles having varied learning abilities other than fine motor-skills development.
Visual awareness in all its glory – this is the hallmark learning tool of this application apart from its ability to improve fine motor-skills. Crisp voice-overs feign away from branding their English expertise and ensure that auditory learning takes place in a manner as smooth as a fresh breeze cools the soul in the spring season.
This application therefore stands apart according to me in the never-ending pool of applications residing on different play stores. I have downloaded it and would certainly recommend anyone who’s on the hunt for picture-puzzle apps to download it as well.
