toys r us | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:02:57 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png toys r us | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Toys ‘R’ Us accused of making cheap knock offs https://www.kitguru.net/channel/harrison/toys-r-us-accused-of-making-cheap-knock-offs/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/harrison/toys-r-us-accused-of-making-cheap-knock-offs/#comments Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:00:43 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=109565 Innovation and inspiration are not quite twins, but they are very close cousins. By the same token, derivation and downright rip-off are also closely related. Lawyers get phat on the differences between these words and, right now, some of those lawyers belong to Acer, Foxconn, Kingston and Toys ‘R' Us. You may never have heard of Fuhu, …

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Innovation and inspiration are not quite twins, but they are very close cousins. By the same token, derivation and downright rip-off are also closely related. Lawyers get phat on the differences between these words and, right now, some of those lawyers belong to Acer, Foxconn, Kingston and Toys ‘R' Us.

You may never have heard of Fuhu, but it was set up as a joint venture between Kingston, Foxconn and Acer in order to sell software, initially, but by 2011 the company was sure that creating a brand new tablet for Toys ‘R' Us was the way forward.

The Nabi was born and big sales were predicted by all concerned for the highly affordable tablet with its distinctive shape and colouring.

Unfortunately, the deal came crashing down when Toys ‘R' us only ordered 20,000 units and – despite selling through all of its stock – decided not to re-order. This decision surprised Foxconn, Kingston and Acer because they knew that the whole ‘cute tablets for kiddies' was an amazing seller across the globe. The partnership with Toys ‘R' Us came to an end near the start of 2012 and everyone thought it was going to be one of those things you ‘put down to bad experience'.

But Toys ‘R' Us has not forgotten about it at all. Indeed, it had been working on creating the unusual tablet itself, with other partners, and by September 2012 it was ready to launch the Tabeo.

Claiming his product was highly innovative and a leader in the category, Fuhu founderRobb Rujioka has been quoted saying, “Cheap knock-offs will devalue our brand and the children's tablet category as a whole”. Clearly he is not a happy bunny.

Judge for yourself is Fuhu was right to demand that (a) Toys ‘R' us stop selling the Tabeo, (b) hand over all stock to Fuhu to prevent further sales and (c) pay damages.

To stop selling the one on the right by saying, "No demand" - only to follow that by launching the one on the left... seems optimistic. Especially when the combined revenues of Acer, Foxconn & Kingston are so huge.

KitGuru says: While we in the west joke that China's approach to intellectual property is along the lines of “Copy is Right”, it's hard to see how Toys ‘R' Us thought they'd get away with this one. Good luck to them in fighting Fuhu.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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Lies ‘R’ Us? Tough tablet to swallow? https://www.kitguru.net/channel/faith/lies-r-us-tough-tablet-to-swallow/ https://www.kitguru.net/channel/faith/lies-r-us-tough-tablet-to-swallow/#comments Sat, 16 Jul 2011 14:20:24 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=53357 These iPad things seem to be everywhere. Every time a major technology site runs with a rumor about the super-featured iPad 3 coming soon to a retailer near you, that your local store actually gets bombarded with cheap imports – promising an iPad like experience for pennies. KitGuru's been sent some snaps and a question. …

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These iPad things seem to be everywhere. Every time a major technology site runs with a rumor about the super-featured iPad 3 coming soon to a retailer near you, that your local store actually gets bombarded with cheap imports – promising an iPad like experience for pennies. KitGuru's been sent some snaps and a question.

One loyal reader was in her local toy store when she spotted a new display with what appeared to be a complete bargain.

However, upon closer inspection, a question of misleading information was raised. Snapshots were taken and sent to us for perusal. We can see her point.

No obvious disclaimers about function - the only site clearly shown is the BBC

.Why is the choice of web site an issue?

Well, here's what David Madden, Executive Product Manager for BBC iPlayer on Mobile platforms, had to say on the subject.

“Adobe Flash reaches an estimated 95% of PCs, which means the BBC can use Flash streaming technologies to reach audiences on the internet right across the UK with a consistent video playback experience.

As soon as Flash streaming came to mobile, through Adobe's Flash 10.1 player on Android 2.2 devices, it made sense to make the most of our existing Flash infrastructure to bring that consistent playback experience to mobile as well”.

So far, so good. We know that the BBC's site is Flash-rich and that the Toys ‘R' Us 7 inch tablet device shown here, is being sold with the BBC site as part of the advert. So where's the problem?  Here's a zoom in to the detailed spec being offered.

The problem comes in the small print. This product is cheap - no doubt - but comes with Android 1.6

.When you say that a product “…welcomes a new era of personal computing…” because it will  “…play music, movies and apps…” and the operating system supplied will give you “…an intuitive and powerful experience…”, then you cannot be talking about Android 1.6.

Even Android 1.6's mum wouldn't be kind enough to describe its off-spring with these words.

You can argue whether Toys ‘R' Us is actively engaged in misleading its customers with this offer. On the one hand, you could say that just because the offer says ‘plays movies' and you show the Flash-movie-rich BBC web site, doesn't mean that all of those things will work at once.  You could.

We stand to be corrected, but we don't think Android 1.6 can be described as delivering a media-rich experience. Anything less than v2.2 has to be viewed with serious caution.

Time to clean up the descriptions? KitGuru believes that non-technical consumers need to be reliably informed.

KitGuru says: We don't like it. The idea of a cheap tablet is great. It's a definite option for lower income families, kids who are buying it with saved pocket money or parents who have a very young child and they don't want to risk a full-blown iPad 2. However, it needs to be marketed as such. Consumers who buy this product and are not able to use the whole of the BBC web site, must surely have a great case for a full refund. Come on Toys ‘R' Us – refine the language/pictures being used so they are clearer. Toys ‘R' us is a big store, and we need to be able to trust the descriptions more.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forum.

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Toys R Us sell iPad 2 to help demand: then sell out immediately https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipad-apple/carl/toys-r-us-sell-ipad-2-to-help-demand-then-sell-out-immediately/ https://www.kitguru.net/lifestyle/mobile/ipad-apple/carl/toys-r-us-sell-ipad-2-to-help-demand-then-sell-out-immediately/#comments Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:36:56 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=42190 Getting an iPad2 anywhere is proving to be a challenge. In America, the Toys R Us chain have gotten involved, with the goal of helping to meet consumer demand. Everyone headed over to Toys R Us to pick up a new shiny tablet from Apple, but sadly it didn't work out as well as many …

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Getting an iPad2 anywhere is proving to be a challenge. In America, the Toys R Us chain have gotten involved, with the goal of helping to meet consumer demand.

Everyone headed over to Toys R Us to pick up a new shiny tablet from Apple, but sadly it didn't work out as well as many had hoped. In Los Angeles many stores had sold out of the iPad 2 by 10am after the store opened an hour earlier. Such is the demand for Apple's successor to the original iPad from last year.

You could still buy tons of accessories for the product in the store, and online, but sadly it proved to be rather pointless without the unit itself available.

Apple stores are still struggling to meet with user demand, and Apple representatives have said that generally when stores get them in stock, they sell out the same day.

Best Buy, one of the biggest chains has also had a problem keeping inventory. They said they have been taking orders, but have none in stock and aren't sure when they can fulfill the demand to their customers.

In the UK, things aren't any better

With the official Apple store still holding a 2-3 week wait time after ordering. UK KitGuru reader Sammy Harrington said ‘I ordered an iPad 2 a month ago and I still haven't received it. Apple said they are struggling to get enough units to meet the demand. I sold my iPad online to help fund for the new one, so i've been padless for weeks now.”

KitGuru says: Have you ordered one? how long have you been waiting?

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