The mobile market and opportunities for educational apps targeted to toddlers and preschoolers continues its ascent as a new study from the The Joan Ganz Cooney Center at Sesame Workshop called iLearn II: An Analysis of the Education Category of Apple’s App Store reveals apps for preschoolers showed the largest growth (23%) in the last two years among products for iPhone and iPad in the iTunes education category.

Among the findings, which used a 2009 analysis by the Cooney Center as a benchmark and examined nearly 200 education apps for the iPad and iPhone, it’s interesting to note that 14% of the apps were tagged for intended school usage which reflects how technology for kids is becoming increasingly ingrained in society especially for early education.

While more apps based on branded characters are being developed for older kids, the report found that, of the entire sample, only two iPhone apps and no iPad apps were based on well-known branded characters. Also revealed, of the 109 different publishers represented within the sample, 89 of them were not represented in the sample two years ago.

While the average price of apps has risen by over US$1 since 2009 and, according to a recent Common Sense Media report, 38% of lower-income parents don’t know about apps, the Cooney study recommends developers and educators need to ensure all children have access to educational apps, and a voluntary consumer education initiative needs to be developed to improve access to information about apps’ educational potential, proven impact and age appropriateness.