Toys-R-Us Tabeo: Does The World Need Another Kid's Tablet?
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) - Toys-R-Us' new Tabeo seems like a long shot to me. In a world where kids already have an appetite for iPads, Android tablets and the Kindle Fire, I'm not sure where something "kid" fits beyond a certain and very young age.
At $150, this is right at the same price point as a 7" grown up tablet, and I can't imagine its that much easier to use - your kids are already the tablet teachers in the house, so if anyone needs an easier tablet it might be you!
The new device will be sold only in Toys-R-Us stores, a move to prevent "showrooming", where shoppers use a big box retail store as a demo room and the buy the product online somewhere else from their smartphone even as they stand in the store.
The other key play here is a wide array of parental controls and a curated set of some 6,000 apps that are all kid-friendly. Those are important angles, but not anything you absolutely can't find it other products, like the newly revised Amazon Kindle line.
I'll be watching the Tabeo with some interest. One of the most interesting filters on that view is the retailer's own tablet store where lots of competitors abound, most I suspect your kids don't ask for by name.
(Copyright 2012 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
