I have attended and spoken at plenty of trade shows through the years ? consumer electronics, telephony, computing, broadcasting, database programming, home theater, whatever SXSW is ? but i?ve always desired to visit Toy Fair. Even the name of it feels like fun ? who doesn?t like toys? This year i eventually found an excuse to head, and it wasn?t to work out Star Wars toys. (Well, at the least it wasn?t the sole reason.) At CES this year, there have been a whole bunch connected toys ? board games that interact with an iPad, children?s educational tablets, and many flying things with iPhone controllers. I covered some of these in my holiday gift guide, but thought that it might be worth attending Toy Fair 2012 and seeing how deeply connectivity really went within the toy industry. What new gadgets would i locate? Are vendors embedding 3G and 4G radios into toys, or simply WiFi? Toy Fair agreed, and gave me a press pass.
After an exhausting day walking the show floor and paying $4.50 for a bottle of water (because of this you cannot have nice things, Ny city), i spotted that rather than writing a column about each of the cool connected toys i found, i used to be going to finish up with something quite different. To begin with, Toy Fair reflects an industry with just a few very large players ? Toys R Us, Walmart, and Target ? and many very small independent toy shops. My guess is that the gigantic box stores don?t desire Toy Fair ? the large vendors court them year round.
As a result, many of the Toy Fair exhibitors looked to be aiming at buyers for mom and dad stores, and weren?t quite sure what to do with someone with a press badge. For instance, after I would ask about pricing, i used to be consistently given wholesale pricing by the case ? something that never, ever happens at CES, E3, IFA, or perhaps CEDIA, that is geared toward retailers/installers. The booths reflected this emphasis in addition; there have been aisles and aisles of tutorial toys, stuffed animals, and crafts ? any such merchandise you discover in independent toy stores. The odd thing was that there wasn?t much inside the way of associated services (finance, inventory management software, buyer?s collectives). The odder thing was that not one of the goods on display had any kind of connectivity.
?i used to be shocked that connectivity was missing from products like science kits?
I wasn?t shocked to locate that green toys promising old-fashioned play value from companies like Box Creations had not added WiFi routers to their cardboard forts. I understand ? and appreciate ? that independent stores searching for products with play value that utilizes a child?s imagination and encourages deeper play than pushing a button at the back of a doll that claims how much it likes fashion and hates math. However, i used to be a little bowled over that connectivity was missing from products like science kits, where a smartphone app may be used as a method of instructing, monitoring, and interacting with the circuits/chemicals/biology components.
That?s to not say there weren?t any geeky toys on display:
? littleBits was showing off new components for its system, that are best described as BugLabs for children.
? LEGO Systems had new packaging for all times of George, which makes it much clearer that here?s an iPhone/LEGO brick combination game instead of a typical box of LEGO. The goal of the sport is to quickly build LEGO sculptures that match the image in your iPhone, which then uses its camera to ensure the accuracy of the model. Future variations in this theme are planned. LEGO?s Mindstorms robotics kits weren?t on the show since the company had nothing new to expose off, but an official WiFi module and a 3G module would significantly broaden the uses for the system.
? ThinkGeek had a table with various products from its catalog and online store, together with a prototype of a Bluetooth game controller for iOS devices that appears like an original Nintendo 8 bit game pad. Still, my personal favorite was the lightsaber candle holder, which looks even better in real life because it does within the catalog.
? TeeGee launched an intriguing interactive stuffed animal of the identical name. The twist in this modern Teddy Ruxpin (that appears just like the offspring of a TeleTubby and a monkey) is that you are imagined to hide an iPhone or iPod touch inside, that is used for voice recognition, speech, and gameplay.
? DANO Toys was showing off its App Crayon, a child?s stylus for the iPad, together with separate educational apps, including one which teaches writing to children. There are numerous styli in the market, and a few have much stronger brand associations; DANO should combine the hardware with the software if it desires to get shelf space.
? There have been several vendors showing off Android tablets for youngsters, but, frankly, all of them looked terrible. Terrible interfaces, terrible educational software, terrible industrial design.
? No matter if there have been few genuinely mobile toys, mobile gaming?s influence was strongly felt: Angry Birds was just everywhere. I saw Angry Birds stuffed animals, Angry Birds nightlights, Angry Birds slingshots, foam rockets, flashlights, pens, backpacks, hats, keychains, swirly thingies? and multiple item i could not identify. I even saw a completely analog version of the Angry Birds game: Angry Birds Knock On Wood, from Mattel. i cannot quite pinpoint why this could exist outside of physics teachers and Orthodox Jews stricken by smartphone withdrawal at the Sabbath, however it won a Toy of the Year award.
Finally, while it had nothing in any respect to do with my original notion of finding connected toys, i used to be intrigued by Nano Magnetics? booth choked with Nanodots sculptures. Their PR person gave me a vial in their tiny magnets, and that i feel urged to warn SlashGear readers to prevent these addictive things in any respect costs, as there?s an inverse relationship between fiddling with them and productivity. For instance, i began scripting this paragraph an hour ago.
Author BioAvi Greengart is the Research Director for Consumer Devices at Current Analysis. He may be reached at avigreengart AT gmail DOT com. Opinions listed here are his own.
The opinions expressed are those of the writer and don?t necessarily represent those of SlashGear
Check out the original source here.
Source: http://www.tywigs.org/gadgets-reviews/avi-greengarts-toy-fair-2012
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