App Review: Horton Hears a Who by Oceanhouse Media

Today’s review is of Horton Hears a Who, the latest release in a long line of Dr. Seuss apps from Oceanhouse Media. Oceanhouse was represented at DBW by Michel Kripalani, co-founder of the company (with his wife Karen), and he impressed me very much with the news that his company had never used VC funding and that their developer- and game-driven staff’s products had turned a profit from the first release. (You hardly ever get that in the dotcom world!)

They also seem to have mastered marketing their apps, as their products continually chart in the App Store, often within hours of entering the marketplace. The day I met with Michel, February 16th, was right after Five Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed came out and immediately reached the Top Ten. As of this writing, it is the “#1 paid book app on iPad February 2011″ in iTunes. There’s also the thought that a company must be doing something right if they won the Dr. Seuss digital license directly from the Geisel camp. They also work with The Berenstain Bears, Little Critter, and Chronicle Books properties, all of which are huge brands. They also update their apps multiple times after release. Impressive, indeed. With all that great news, I was really excited to play their latest:

The app’s page on the Oceanhouse website features a long list of other available Dr. Seuss properties, including most of the classics (Green Eggs and Ham, Hop on Pop, That Cat in the Hat, of course, and more). From what Michel told me of their business, I know they’ve built a proprietary platform that spans devices (iOS and even Android). There’s no need to build a platform for every app project, and a lot of the content is, therefore, plug-in and play.

So while the functionality won’t differ much from app to app, Oceanhouse does pack in a lot of great “value adds” to their games. First, there’s the delightful Dr. Seuss art. There’s no animation to it, but the frame does zoom and pan to various areas of Geisel’s paintings as the story moves along. There’s also a professional voiceover actor reading. The one here is a bit of a ham, and does all of the goofy Seuss-world voices, including Horton, the Sour Kangaroo, the residents of Who-ville, and more.

A kid can touch various elements of the picture and hear them labeled in an audio-visual way. The text from the narration will highlight, the narrator will speak the word, and the label will also pop up on-screen. For example, you can touch Horton and see/hear “Horton.” This is lots of fun, but if I hear the narrator’s distinctive soundbite of “Jungle of Nool” one more time, I just may burst! Aside from the narration, there’s also a rich contextual soundscape for each frame which really brings the app to life in a lush way.

They have the three standard options for reading. “Read to Me” reads the app, highlighting words as the narrator speaks them, but lets the kids turn the pages. “Auto Play” reads and turns pages, much like a movie. “Read It Myself” lets the kids trigger the text when they want to hear the narration, interact with the scene, and control the pacing. Since Dr. Seuss’ books run a bit long for some younger readers, the app pauses easily when you press the Home button or return to the Menu, and you’re automatically asked if you want to resume reading where you left off or if you want to start over.

Overall, the app is very clean, minimalist, smartly done, and has the bestselling Seuss name attached to it. And whatever Oceanhouse is doing in terms of marketing in addition to packing their roster with blockbuster names, it’s working. (Remember that marketing, in my opinion, is the biggest challenge?) I look forward to seeing other apps from them and to seeing what their next functionality innovation might be. At our meeting, Michel hinted at something very exciting, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see!

If you want to check out Horton Hears a Who, head over to the App Store. The price point is $3.99. While Oceanhouse doesn’t have a Lite version of this particular game, there are several free offerings that you can play.