Toys R Us won’t even start selling the Nabi Kids Tablet until next week, but it’s already sold out in pre-orders.
Billed as the first full-featured Android platform made especially for kids, the 7-inch $200 tablet comes loaded with about $150 in games and uses “kid-friendly” software. (Apparently they haven’t seen how adroit the tykes are with grown-up versions.)
The device, designed by FUHU and manufactured by Foxconn, is being marketed to parents who want their kids to stop messing around with their iPads.
“The problem is you’re not really comfortable with them playing with a $600 device,” Jim Mitchell, CEO of FUHU told 7×7. “You get it back from them and the screen is smudged, they may have deleted some of your files, and so on. One of my colleague’s son, who was maybe three or four, somehow ordered $250 worth of smurf toys on his iPad one night.”
The smudge factor plus low price of the tablet may draw parents in, but like many toys for children, the must-have appeal comes from the cool extras that kids will hound you for until you give in.
“We won’t make huge money on the tablet itself,” Mitchell says. “It’s the accessories that go with it that will be profitable for us.” These include cute add-ons for the rubber bumper case like a Hello Kitty or Kung Fu Panda head.
The Nabi Tablet also comes equipped with “Mommy Mode,” so that once your kids are in bed you can do whatever one does with an Android tablet that you wouldn’t want your kids to do.
Would you consider buying your kid a starter Android tablet?
Via 7×7
