An experienced venture capitalist, Rick Bolander serves on the
boards of several technology startups, including Kajeet, a company that
provides mobile phones rich with parental and school controls.
Because
parents generally want to be able to monitor the media their children
consume, some of them hesitate to give their kids mobile
devices—especially those able to access the Internet. Kajeet, however,
provides an alternative. Parents can choose from a variety of Android
devices and, through them, control how many minutes their children can
use as well as the content they can view. Many consumers have come to
appreciate Kajeet’s offerings. In one case, a parent liked the products
so much that she decided to purchase phones for her entire family
through Kajeet.
Another parent appreciated the ability to
increase and decrease the minutes available on her child’s phone, and
she based such decisions on the youth’s grades. Still other parents
appreciate Kajeet’s GPS feature, which allows them to pinpoint their
kids’ locations. One mother liked the ability to block usage as well as
the option to override the block in case of emergency.
Overall,
Kajeet lets parents protect their children from inappropriate content or
overuse while still being able to offer the benefits of mobile
communication.