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Non-Tech : MAT - Mattel - toysRthem -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Neil H who wrote (103)	2/7/1999 10:55:00 PM
From: Neil H	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 706

Toymakers Free To Cut Prices By RACHEL BECK AP Business Writer NEW YORK (AP) - Those steep prices that have kept many kids from getting the latest interactive playthings that giggle and wiggle are coming down. Thanks to falling costs of computer chips and other technology, toymakers are finally starting to slash prices without sacrificing innovation. As a result, many new high-tech toys and games will sell for well below $50 this year. ''It's easy to build a great toy, but it's hard to sell it at the right price,'' said Sean McGowan, a toy analyst at the investment firm Gerard Klauer Mattison. ''This year, we are seeing great use of technology at really affordable prices.'' Toymakers have stepped up their high-tech offerings in recent years to make playtime more entertaining and challenging for today's computer-literate kids. Innovation hasn't come cheap. Many of these toys - especially the most advanced - have been selling for more than $100, above what most value-conscious Americans will pay for a single toy. Entering 1999, however, high-tech toy prices are going the way of computer prices: Better products for less. ''A (computer) chip you could buy in 1980 for $4,000 is now selling for under a $1,'' said Doug Glen, chief strategy officer at Mattel Inc. (NYSE:MAT - news), the world's biggest toymaker. ''None of us could do what we are doing now at a reasonable price just a few years ago.'' Many toymakers also watched the success of Furby last year. Consumers were amazed by its ability to speak 800 words and phrases, and to interact with kids. And most shoppers paid only $30 for the furry, Gremlinlike toy, although some spent thousands in the fervor of the Christmas rush. ''The whole point of technology is to raise the bar on what is magical to kids,'' said Chris Byrne, a toy consultant. ''Furby managed to do just that and it was affordable - a perfect combination.'' Toy manufacturers showcase their new products for retailers at the American International Toy Fair, which begins Monday, and this year low-cost toys with unbelievable innovation are more prevalent than ever before. Most will appear on store shelves beginning in the second half of 1999. One new company, Zowie Intertainment, has a line of three $50 CD-ROM-based computer adventure games that are controlled by plastic playsets which plug into the computer. In one of its titles, ''Redbeard's Pirate Quest,'' children navigate a ship on the computer screen by steering the wheel on a playset that also is shaped like a ship. And they manipulate characters on the screen by moving freestanding dolls around on the playset. Hasbro has also come up with four new CD-ROM-based computer games. With the Playskool Store, for instance, kids place a template of a cash register over the computer's real keyboard, and use that to interact with on-screen shoppers. Also for $40 is Play-By-Play's My Best Friend doll, which employs voice-recognition technology to carry on a limited conversation. If the doll asks a question and gets a wrong answer, she encourages the child to try again. Tiger Electronics' Sports Feel Tennis, $20, is a toy tennis racquet that has an embedded motion sensor. A child can play a set of virtual tennis by trying to time her swing in reaction to the sounds of balls being hit from the opposite side of the virtual court. ''Consumers are looking for value when they buy toys, just like they do when they shop for everything else in their lives,'' Bryne said. ''This year, they will find what they are looking for.''