Faster paced and broken into shorter activity segments, students’ lives are structured differently than they once were, and innovators have rushed to keep up. The rapid development of cell phones, ipods, and text messaging has put music, games and communication in the hands of young people as they move from place to place throughout their day.

The reality of students’ mobile lives lends itself to a different way of learning too, but learning applications have not kept pace. Heavy textbooks and PC-based software can be burdensome—and are decidedly not mobile. The few mobile learning applications that exist are built for niche markets such as Palm OS or Windows CE—not for the cell phones students actually carry with them.

At last, StudyCell is making learning mobile too. StudyCell is the only company dedicated to making streamlined educational software for the cell phones students use everyday. StudyCell gives students access to compelling, useful learning content wherever they are.

StudyCell takes advantage of the way people use cell phones in their daily lives—in between appointments, on the run, during brief windows of time—to help them memorize words, facts, and concepts.

The idea for StudyCell came to Christopher Salemme, as he waited for a meeting to begin. Bored, and a student of Italian, he found himself wishing he could use the time to study his Italian vocabulary. He thought of his cell phone—a mini computer that can play games—and wondered why tools for learning couldn’t work on it as well. StudyCell was born. Chris quickly built a prototype and enlisted the help of his friends to build a company.

We met weekly around Chris and Rose's dining room table, and on long walks through the East Bay hills. Through the development of Chris's prototype and subsequent iterations of StudyCell products, the StudyCell team developed a method for the systematic memorization of discrete bodies of knowledge. The m-learn® system teaches language and facts in an engaging, interactive way, designed especially to use the portability and streamlined technology of the cell phone. Features, such as running scores and adaptive content, make this system both engaging and efficient.

Keys to the StudyCell concept are ease of use and entertainment value—both of which increase the likelihood of frequent exposure to new material. We began with languages, where repetition, ease, and frequency of study vastly increase success in vocabulary memorization. We are extending this approach to other content domains such as test preparation, history, and chemistry. StudyCell products enable today’s mobile student to pick up her French, Spanish, History, or Chemistry wherever she is, whether waiting in line, riding a bus, or in the back of her parent’s car.