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A common refrain among parents is that their children don’t want to play with toys anymore. They would rather play games on a computer or an iPad. This has led to the emergence in the PC (personal computer) tablet market a new trend — ‘Toy Tablets’.
These are not toys in the general sense of the term, but are PC tablets targeted at Gen Y children in the age bracket of 4-15 years.
The segment is abuzz with activity with the launch of Funbook by low-cost mobile handset maker Micromax. Funbook is a tablet that runs on the ice-cream sandwich (Android 4) operating system.
The advert for Micromax has a 6-year-old boy singing aloud a Chemistry formula in class. Positioned as a student-friendly tablet, the Funbook is priced at Rs 6,000-plus.
Tough competition
Given the popularity of the product, Inspan Infotech, an IT distribution company, decided to also jump onto the bandwagon. The launch of Genius II, a tablet priced at Rs 3,600, is set to give tough competition to Micromax.
According to market research firm Euromonitor International, the PC tablet market is India is pegged at Rs 333 crore (as of 2011), and has grown multi-fold from a mere Rs 97 crore in 2006. The segment is fast becoming competitive with companies such as Intex, iball, Gfive and Milagrow racing to launch tablets over the next few months.
“The race to equip the next billion consumers without smartphones/laptops starts with the young. India has one of the youngest demographic split with 30 per cent of its population between the age of 0 and 14, and 40 per cent under 20 in 2012. It’s no surprise that the young are being targeted now,” said Mr Loo Wee Teck, Global Head of Consumer Electronics, Euromonitor International.
More games, apps
Intex, an IT hardware company, plans to launch two models in the next couple of months under Rs 6,000 and will have more games and edutainment apps, said Mr Sanjay Kumar, GM (Mobile Business), Intex Technologies. He added that the company plans to sell about 80,000 units in FY13, when the total market is expected to grow to 12 lakh units. “Today’s children don’t want to share something with their parents and would rather own a gadget. Toy Tablets, or tablets below Rs 10,000, have created a new segment for this segment. We should see several sub-categories emerge. However, the challenge for these players would be to maintain the quality of these products when it comes to battery backup and screen sensitivity,” said Akhilesh Tuteja, IT Advisory at KPMG India.
Will the toy tablets impact toy manufacturers? Euromonitor’s Mr Loo Woo Teck said, “We do not expect these tablets to significantly alter the gaming landscape. In India, digital games comprise only 5 per cent of the total video games market.”
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