Guess what just popped up to the top of our “must-see at CES” list? Chances are, if you’re an iPad owner with small kids, you too will be enthralled by the promise and the premise of Crayola’s collaboration with peripheral maker Griffin Technologies: ColorStudio HD for iPad, including the Crayola iMarker stylus. Coming in “Spring 2011” for the iPad, the US$29.95 hardware and software combo will put the wax-based experience of crayon drawing into a new digital realm.
Once the free-with-purchase app is downloaded to the iPad (and I’m curious how exactly that’s going to work — a gift code that you get once you register the product? Or a free app that simply doesn’t work without the stylus?), the would-be artist can draw away on more than 50 interactive coloring pages, games, musical environments and the like.
The app will be able to differentiate the iMarker’s touch point from a fingertip swipe, so that coloring and controlling the UI will be distinct operations. This capability would be fascinating if Crayola and Griffin chose to license it for grown-up painting apps like ArtRage, but I imagine that kids will simply grok the difference between a marker and their fingers the same way they understand that distinction in the real world.
Good luck getting the iPad out of the back seat during car trips now. One drawback, as Kelly H pointed out today: this increases the chances of other, non-iPad-safe markers being used inappropriately on other flat glowing surfaces. Deep breath and count to 10, parents.
Continue reading Crayola and Griffin unite for ColorStudio HD on iPad, custom iMarker stylus
Crayola and Griffin unite for ColorStudio HD on iPad, custom iMarker stylus originally appeared on TUAW on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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