Every parent of young kids in 2016 will know the pain of balancing “screen time” with physical activity – how can you make playing catch compete with Minecraft? A Sydney startup might just have the idea – Elanation aims to reward physical activity in an online world.
The principal is simple – make a cool game for kids, but one that just doesn’t work unless you get up and get active. That activity converts into power or points in your online character allowing you to play more!
And it’s an ecosystem of products, with attachments for your bike and even a skipping rope coming in 2017, the community launches with the E-Turbo.
Just 1,000 are available today before Christmas, with retail distribution to be announced in 2017.
Listen to co-founder Katherine Pace on Talking Technology with Trevor Long:
Founded just over a year ago, the team obtained Australian seed funding to get off the ground and after a lot of hard work they’ve produced a high-quality fitness tracker for kids. Measuring steps, even heart-rate the E-Turbo retails for $129 which compares favourably to the likely competitor the recently announced Vivofit Jnr from Garmin.
The difference with the E-Turbo is the overall ecosystem of gaming, reward and future products.
A hard market for a little Aussie company to crack, but with the right approach and a quality product (which this certainly appears to be) they are on the right track.
Parents looking for something to get the kids up and going this Christmas should take a look at the E-Turbo – limited quantity available now online.
