Chicago – VTech, a pioneer in Wi-Fi enabled children's learning tablets with a 30-plus year history of innovation, was on display at the Time to Play Holiday Showcase today, highlighting VTech's Premium Kid Connect app for the InnoTab^® 3S. The new VTech Premium Kid Connect app with enhanced features brings families even closer together, letting kids and parents send voice messages, text messages, stickers, photos and drawings to each other. Moreover, nearly 90% of moms find it stressful to be away from their children because of work, business trips, chores or other commitments[1], according to the results of a new survey conducted on behalf of VTech by BabyCenter, the #1 pregnancy and parenting destination worldwide. VTech Premium Kid Connect helps alleviate that anxiety by keeping parents connected to their children when apart – anytime, anywhere – whether they are at daycare, a neighbor's house or across the country visiting grandparents.

"With VTech Premium Kid Connect, kids can safely join in digital communication, just like their parents, in ways not traditionally available on other children's learning tablets," said William To, President, VTech Electronics North America. "Now, even preschoolers are able to send voice messages[2], letting them communicate with their parents no matter how far apart they are."

With secure and easy-to-use tablet-to-mobile communication[3], VTech Premium Kid Connect gives preschoolers as young as three years old the ability to emulate their parents and older siblings, allowing them to feel like they are part of the messaging trend by sending messages to parents' smartphones, all from a kid-safe, kid-friendly tablet. In return, parents can send messages back to their child's InnoTab 3S, opening up an interactive dialogue. Plus, kids can stay connected to their friends and siblings by exchanging messages safely between two InnoTab 3S tablets[4] anywhere in the world, regardless of how far apart they are. Since only devices approved by parents can communicate with their children's InnoTab 3S, they can rest assured their children are only communicating with people they know and trust, making VTech Kid Connect a true breakthrough in kid-safe family networking.

"The ability to stay connected with friends and loved ones through a variety of digital media, even when we're physically apart, qualitatively changes the way we interact with each other when at a distance" said Dr. Eric Klopfer, VTech Toy Development Consultant and Learning Expert. "Parents and children can regularly keep in touch in creative ways through text, video and audio even when they are at a distance due to travel and schedules. Communication technologies, like VTech's Premium Kid Connect, add a fun new dimension to parent-child interaction."

The Premium Kid Connect app is available as a paid download through VTech's Learning Lodge™ app store[5] – home to over 600 titles[6] of educator-approved downloadable content and curriculum for purchase. It is part of the Deluxe Apps Package, which also includes the Movie Maker app, a fun and exciting stop-motion animation app that lets kids become movie directors. The Deluxe Apps Package is a US$19.99 value, available now for US$14.99.

InnoTab 3S retails for US$99.99 and is recommended for children 3 to 9 years old. The InnoTab family also includes the recently announced, compact and affordable InnoTab 3 (MSRP US$69.99) as well as InnoTab Baby (MSRP US$89.00), with content geared toward little learners 12 months and up, meaning there is an InnoTab product for every child, at every price point.

For more information about the complete InnoTab product range, please visit http://www.vtechkids.com/kidconnect.

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[1] The survey was conducted among 1,061 moms recruited from the BabyCenter 21st Century Mom^® Panel managed by Socratic Technologies, Inc.
[2] Voice message capability is only available with subscription to Premium Kid Connect.
[3] Wi-Fi connection with Internet access (not included) required for InnoTab 3S. Wi-Fi connection with Internet access (not included) or data plan (not included) required for smartphone. VTech Kid Connect is compatible with iPhone 4 or above, IOS 5.x or above; Android 2.3.3 or above with 320×480 minimum resolution. Download free app at Apple App Store or Google Play.
[4] Wi-Fi connection with Internet access (not included) required for both communicating InnoTab 3S tablets.
[5] InnoTab 3S comes with a one year subscription of Kid Connect Basic. Registered InnoTab 3S users can download the app free at VTech's Learning Lodge. Kid Connect Basic includes the ability to send text messages and animated stickers.
[6] Available by end of 2013.

About VTech

VTech is a world leader in age-appropriate and developmental stage-based electronic learning products for children. As a pioneer in the learning toy category, VTech develops high-quality, innovative educational products that enrich children's development and make learning fun. With a rich, almost 35 year history, VTech has not only established itself as a learning authority but also consistently remains at the forefront of innovation with award-winning products such as the InnoTab^® 2S Wi-Fi Learning App Tablet, one of the first children's learning-based tablets with Wi-Fi, MobiGo^®, V.Reader^® and V.Smile^®. The Learning Lodge™, VTech's comprehensive app store, features a robust library of more than 350 educational and entertaining games, e-books, music and videos with engaging age-appropriate content across the widest variety of curricula, with content expanding to offer more than 600 titles by the end of 2013. The company also has a broad range of award-winning infant and preschool products available in 24 different languages worldwide, with more than 100 new products introduced every year. In order to further strengthen VTech's position as a learning authority, the company's Advisory Council, with esteemed experts in reading, language arts, science, math, and child development, consult on new product introductions and Learning Lodge content.

VTech Electronics North America, LLC is based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. VTech Electronics Ltd. is headquartered in Hong Kong with distribution globally. VTech is the largest supplier of ELPs from infancy to preschool in the US and Western Europe.

For more information on VTech's additional product lines, visit www.VTechKids.com, www.facebook.com/VTechtoys on Facebook or follow @VTechToys on Twitter.