Digital Media Buzz > Digital Toys: Mainstream in the Playstream

Digital Toys: Mainstream in the Playstream

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By Ned Smith

The tipping point for digital technology in toydom came in 2005 when Canadian toymaker Ganz introduced Webkinz, a line of stuffed animals that come alive online in Webkinz World. “Imagine Beanie Babies in cyberspace,” one observer says. This mating of the physical and digital worlds has proved to be a match made in heaven. Digital is well on its way to becoming mainstream in the playstream.

“Webkinz caught the attention of a lot of toy companies,” says Chris Heatherly, head of Disney’s Toymorrow team and VP of Toys and Consumer Electronics for Disney Consumer Products. Disney jumped headfirst into the digital sandbox in 2007 when it acquired Club Penguin, a competing online virtual world. Today, Club Penguin is one of the fastest-growing sites aimed at children ages 6-14.

That sandbox is getting pretty crowded. “There were over 200 virtual worlds for kids at the end of last year,” says Reyne Rice, Toy Trend Specialist for the industry’s trade group, the Toy Industry Association (TIA). “Many of these worlds have both an offline and an online component.” Which creates a fertile field for toy manufacturers.

Success, though, is not a “gimme.” “A lot of companies have tried the online world,” says Disney’s Heatherly, “but not a lot have been successful.” One fairly common cause of failure, he says, is losing sight of the necessary play factor and not investing enough to make a great online game. “We’ve had a lot of experience in the online world and we know what works.” The user experience is key, he adds. “You have to constantly improve on that user experience and keep adding new content all the time.”

Though the online worlds are hugely successful, that’s not the only digital action in town. All the big players such as Mattel and Hasbro field extensive lines of toys incorporating digital technology. Mattel, the people who gave the world Barbie dolls, has even established the Mattel Digital Network to drive technology through its many product lines, including Barbie.

Traditional toymaker Lego, whose plastic bricks carpet the homes of countless parents throughout the world,  has also found a way to keep up with the times. Its Mindstorm line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks and Lego Technic pieces such as gears, axles and beams.

And Disney fields a full line of electronics-enabled toys based on its planet-pervasive characters and properties. This year the company’s Toymorrow team is getting more skin in the game with products such as the Ultimate Buzz Lightyear Robot, Disney Mix Lights digital audio player, a new Disney Pix Twist digital still camera and two digital video cameras.

But the digital pièce de resistance may well be Disney’s new Netpal, a netbook computer targeted at kids (and their parents), ages 6-12, which is hitting stores now and is likely to top many a wish list come this Christmas. Produced in collaboration with netbook industry leader Asus, and looking very much like a tricked-out twin of that company’s best-selling Eee PC, the Netpal has a reinforced mechanical design intended to withstand the rigors of youthful enthusiasm.

But this is not Netbook Lite, a dumbed-down, shrunken version of a grownup laptop.With an Intel Atom processor (the gold standard de jour for netbooks), 8.9-in LCD display, Wi-Fi, Windows XP Home, 1 G memory and either a 16G flash drive or 160G hard drive, the Netpal has enough moxie under the hood to establish street cred; this is no pint-size performer. (At its price point, $349.99, it had better not be.)

It’s the Disney special sauce that sets this netbook apart and justifies that premium: the Disney Magic Desktop — kid-friendly software featuring Disney characters, a Disney-themed browser that comes stocked with links to a selection of kid-friendly websites, Disney-themed e-mail and a collection of 15 widgets, including a stopwatch, a digital memo pad and a calculator. Kids can change the desktop with customizable themes such as Mickey Mouse, Cars, Toy Story, Wall-E and other Disney properties.

The Disney Desktop may hold the keys to the Magic Kingdom, but it’s Disney’s suite of robust parental controls that holds the keys to the magic kingdom of the Internet. A series of controllable filters assures parents that they will be able to control online safety, content and contacts for their kids.

“There are 40 different parental controls,” Disney’s Heatherly says. “This is a fully functional computer, but we give you the training wheels.”

And it’s a netbook computer that can grow with the kids. “The desktop runs on top of XP,” Heatherly says. “When kids are old enough they can use the full Windows desktop.”

So what’s the draw of digital for kids? And why now?

“They’re digital natives,” TIA’s Rice says. “Any kid under the age of 14 has grown up with a mouse in their hands. They’re very familiar with computers; they’re very familiar with digital media. And they’re not afraid — they just go in and play. They see Mom and Dad on the computer all the time. Kids want to role play what they see the significant people in their life doing.”

Many of this new generation of digital toys also tap into a kid’s pleasure in sharing. Referring to digital cameras designed specifically for kids, Rice says, “kids love to share what they’ve done and what they’ve made with their friends, with their parents and with their grandparents.”

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