Understood.

PS. You're probably only thinking of the software aspect, but food for thought - If there was a smartphone-to-wristwatch version - I'd buy one right away, and I doubt I'd look at the price tag.

One issue is that kids are a lot more willing to be without this dedicated tracker than their phone.

As long as they can get the wristwatch back before going home, there's no cost to leaving the wristwatch where they're supposed to be and then continuing with their regularly scheduled mischief. But kids hate to be separated from their phone.

Now, it's possible that it could have some combination of sensors that at least made pretty sure that some humanoid was wearing the thing. But that increases the cost and battery usage.

Another issue is that the kids could just "forget" to charge it a lot.

Integrating it with their phone means that most things that keep the tracking from working also keeps them from using their phone, which is pretty much a nightmare to most teens.

Is there any reason kids can't abandon the tracker-phone and buy a separate, prepaid phone they use to keep in touch with friends?

Um, it costs money (both a fairly hefty (for a kid) price up front, and recurring). And at the rate most kids text, it would cost a lot of money on a prepaid plan.

And then if they want to use a phone in their parents' presence, they need to be using the iPhone.

And the parents might wonder why the kids almost never answer their calls (to the iPhone).

@jackowayed (there wasn't a reply link for some probably well known pg algorithm reason),

I was thinking for kids in the non-rebellious stage. An eight year old probably does't even need to know. The parent can handle the charging every night, amongst the thousand other things parents do everyday to make sure their kids are safe.

As for battery life - I won't pretend to know anything, but apple keeps surprising me with battery advancements so maybe it's catching up? or maybe someday it will. :)

Awesome! Thanks for the great feedback!