Toys R Us Launches “tabeo”; competes with “Meep”, “Lexibook Junior” and “Kurio”

Toys
r Us started its 4^th quarter a little early last week by blasting
its way into the news.  The
combination of a speech by Jerry Storch, CEO, defending big box retailing; the
announcement of a “Hot Toy Reservation Policy” and the launch of the “tabeo”
tablet were designed to demand attention from the nation’ media; it worked.

In my last posting I commented on Mr. Storch’s speech
about Big Box retailing (See: “Toys R Us; Jerry Storch Stands up for Big Box Retailing”).  In
this posting I want to look at the significance of Toys R Us’s decision to enter
the tablet market via its “tabeo” tablet. 

The
“tabeo”, available only at Toys R Us, is designed for children, containing both
kid based content and safety features. 
It will retail for $149.99 and comes with 50 free apps.  There are an additional 7,000 apps available covering
everything from educational to reading to entertainment.  

In
coming out with “tabeo”, Toys R Us will be competing with Technosource’s Kurio,
Lexibook Junior and the Meep from Oregon Scientific.  All of these are currently available from
Toys R Us.  All

of them are parity priced
with “tabeo”.  All four look very much alike.

It is interesting that Toys R Us chose to enter a field
that has competing players and more on the way. 
It will also find itself
competing with the lower priced Leapfrog Leappad ($99) and “adult” products like Kindle Fire ($159) and the iPad ($399 to $499) which,
whether intended or not, have proven to be kid friendly. 

The big questions I see are:

• Is
  there demand for another children’s tablet? 
  
• Can
  Toys R Us make the case to parents that they need another tablet in addition to
  their iPad or Kindle Fire? 
• How
  will “tabeo” differentiate itself from the Technosource, Lexibook and Oregon
  Scientific products? 
• How
  will Toys R Us merchandise tabeo relative to those of its competitors?

It gets complicated when you are both a retailer and a
manufacturer.  It should be interesting.