Arlington, Va.-based Rosetta Stone (NYSE: RST) is expanding its home market for language education to include kids.
Rosetta Stone on Tuesday announced the launch of a new Kids Division. Its first product will be a "blended reading & language" app called Rosetta Stone Kids Lingo Letter Sounds. Aimed at children ages 3 to 6, Lingo Letter Sounds is available at Apple's App Store for download to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.
The first foreign language featured on the app will be Spanish, and will teach the language with games focusing on phonetic awareness, pronunciation of letter sounds, and use of everyday Spanish phrases.
Although this is Rosetta Stone's first product targeting children directly, company CEO Steve Swad noted in a statement that "Rosetta Stone has a long, proud tradition of leadership in language-learning technology for adults and students K through 12, and we're excited to leverage that expertise to help younger kids learn. This app will give kids a great start down the road of reading and speaking -- in English and Spanish."
