Amazon reportedly mulling low-cost Apple Watch alternative for kids

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iPhone and Apple Watch
iPhone and Apple Watch (Image credit: iMore)

What you need to know

  • Amazon is reportedly considering an Alexa wearable designed for kids.
  • It would be aimed at kids between 4 and 12.

Amazon reportedly planned to launch a tracker of some sort that would be aimed at kids between the ages of 4 and 12. The company was mulling the launch as far back as 2019, with a launch planned to happen at some point last year but it never happened.

The device could have taken the form of a band, keychain, or clip according to a Bloomberg report. Being Amazon, there would also have been an Alexa component as well.

Codenamed Seeker, the GPS-equipped device would be geared toward kids aged 4 to 12 and could take the form of a wristband, keychain or clip, according to documents reviewed by Bloomberg. The voice-activated wearable would provide access to Amazon's children-focused content and let parents communicate with and monitor their kids.

Amazon reportedly planned to launch the product at the competitive $99 price point including cellular access as well as a year's subscription to the FreeTime Unlimited service — a service that has since been rebranded to Kids+.

At this point it isn't clear whether the device is still in the works or if Amazon canned it, but it would potentially have been a great way to keep track of kids without having to splash out on an Apple Watch. Even with some great Apple Watch deals available, it's still a costly purchase. Amazon's $99 tracker would have been much easier to swallow for parents — especially those with multiple kids to keep an eye on.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.