Classic toys are evolving for the iPad generation
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Generation after generation, Monopoly money stacked up in piles of pink, green and gold, Hot Wheels raced across floors and Barbie was, well, just a doll.
Not anymore.
Classic toys are becoming much less classic because of upgrades meant to entertain technology-obsessed children. Where they once tried, unsuccessfully, to compete with digital devices, toy makers are co-opting them.
Monopoly money can now be counted by a tablet computer. Hot Wheels cars can zoom across iPad screens. And Barbie? She's become a digital camera.
"We know that kids are going to play with technology, with iPhones and iPads and Android devices," said Chuck Scothon, senior vice president for marketing for Mattel's North America division. "Our job is to not necessarily avoid that, but if you can't fix it, feature it."
The souped-up classics reflect the growing reality that children, like their parents, are loath to spend time without their devices. More than a third of children 8 years old and younger use mobile devices like iPads or smartphones, a recent study from Common Sense Media found, and about a quarter of children ages 5 to 8 multitask with their digital devices most or some of the time.
While toy makers have tried to modernize their products for years, this is the industry's most aggressive integration of tech.
The upgrades are also a direct response to the toy industry's funk. Retailers are desperate for something new, and most toy makers had a disappointing 2011. In the fourth quarter, when toy companies make most of their sales for the year, sales at the two biggest companies, Hasbro and Mattel, fell by 2 percent domestically (Hasbro's figures include Canadian revenue).
And the main item retailers could not seem to keep in stock last year was a tablet computer for children, the LeapFrog LeapPad Explorer.
First Published February 26, 2012 12:00 am
