This summer, Disney is coming out with a digital camera aimed at children aged three and up. The company's also working, for release this fall, on a portable media player for the same age group.

Expect to see more of the same as from Disney and its competitors. That's because, for better or for worse, electronic devices are being marketed to younger and younger children.

Chris Heatherly, vice-president of technology and innovation at Disney Consumer Products in Glendale, California, said in a telephone interview that electronics are part of children's life from the moment they are born.

"We're finding that the standard kit for an infant's room includes an MP3 player or a boombox for lullaby music," he said. "Then there's infant electronic technology like heart rate monitors, and everybody gets a baby monitor."

But of course that technology is used by parents. The next question is: How soon can you sell devices that the kids use themselves?

The answer is: Earlier and earlier.

The NPD Group, a U.S.-based collector of consumer and retail information, recently released a four-country survey looking at the age at which children in the United States, France, Britain and Germany begin using electronics.

The survey found that American children (Canada wasn't part of the survey but there's no reason to assume we're much different) generally begin using electronics a year or so earlier than their European counterparts.

At five-and-a-half, the average American child is using a desktop computer. At about age six they are using video game systems, by seven they are using laptops, and before the age of eight they are using a digital camera.

Companies are coming out with new devices that are pushing down that average age. The Disney digital camera for pre-schoolers is one of them.

Expected to retail for about $60, the camera will hold about 150 photos, be decorated with Disney characters, and include a software feature that will allow the child to insert a Disney character into a digital photo. And of course it's been designed to stand up to use and abuse by a three-year-old.

Disney is also coming out this fall with a line of Internet-connected toys called Disney Clickables that combine online and offline play, and plans to market electronic musical instruments scaled down in size to fit younger and smaller bodies.

It's not a child's ability to read that initially limits use of electronic devices or the Internet; it's other skills such as dexterity and comprehension.

And the people who develop electronic devices tout their ability to develop those skills.

A survey last year by PopCap Games of Seattle showed 28 per cent of parents of children under the age of nine valued video games for developing dexterity and 24 per cent for developing skills such as spelling and pattern recognition.

As a result, Mr. Heatherly said that children are generally introduced to electronics through what are termed "electronic learning aids" — devices that are promoted because of their educational value. As their skills develop (and as they learn to read), they become likely to use a wider range of devices. They graduate very quickly to video games, a camera, a computer and the Internet.

"By the time kids are three or four, they have the ability to mouse on their own," he said. "By five years old, kids who have grown up with a PC in their household are fairly proficient on the Internet."

Mr. Heatherly said that at this point, Disney's cutoff point for any device designed to be used by a child is the age of three.

Meanwhile, producers of electronics are trying to expand their market at the other end of the age spectrum by targeting people who don't yet use electronic devices.

For example, one big potential market for video games, according to The NPD Group, is women and people over the age of 35.

They're advising the industry to court people who play video games either occasionally or not at all if they're looking for growth.

And they also say that one way to get parents to buy video games is to promote their value as a family activity.

"Regardless of how much gamers play, they agree on certain things," says a marketing analysis posted on the NPD website. "They all enjoy gaming as a family/group, and they believe gaming brings families closer. That's good news for marketers: Family members of the primary gamer in the household could be a potential new audience, gaming as a group has increased the importance of online gaming, and consumers may now perceive gaming as a 'social good' and an inclusive activity."

And one Mom and Dad may be willing to spend more money on.