App Toys: Manufacturers Tweak Products for New Connected Generation
By Rob Scott
November 6, 2012
November 6, 2012
- Remember Furby? Hasbro’s hit robot from the 1990s is getting a second life thanks to a tech upgrade in which the furry little critter develops a personality as a child interacts with it.
- An expensive and complex development project for Hasbro, the Furby reboot is already being promoted by Walmart, Target and Toys R Us.
- The new Furby is one of more than 20 products that Hasbro is bringing back with improved tech capabilities. The company needs a hit, as the popularity of mobile devices has led to sagging sales for traditional toys.
- Manufacturers are hoping that kids familiar with smartphones and tablets will gravitate toward a new generation of “app toys” (a new product category dubbed by toymakers).
- “One of the best-selling gadgets at electronics chain Brookstone is the Rover Spy Tank, which is remotely controlled by an app on an iPhone or iPad,” reports Businessweek. “Mattel has a line that it calls ‘apptivity’ toys that includes Hot Wheels cars a child can move along the screen of a tablet as a digital racetrack scrolls underneath. Mattel’s Fisher-Price brand is even incorporating smart devices into toys for preschoolers.”
- Upgraded sensors and a computerized brain will lead to each Furby behaving somewhat differently, depending on how it is treated by its owner.
- “Furby also works with mobile devices,” notes the article. “A free app for Apple’s iOS operating software and one for Google’s Android later this year will allow users to translate what Furby is saying and feed him everything from coffee to a dirty sock, potentially eliciting a burp or other adorably rude noises.”
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