Lego sales up 18.7%, profits up 31.5% in 2008

Ventes en hausse de près de 20%, bénéfices en nette progression et prévisions optimistes pour 2009 : «Nous ne nous attendions pas à une telle croissance des ventes», avoue ce lundi le directeur du groupe, Joergen Vig Knudstorp. Pour l'exercice écoulé, le bénéfice net a bondi de 31,5% à 1,35 milliard de couronnes danoises (181 millions d'euros) contre 1,02 milliard en 2007, sur un chiffre d'affaires de 9,52 milliards, en hausse de 18,7% sur un an, selon un communiqué.


Lego n'a jamais été aussi solide. Avec 22 milliards de petites briques en plastique produites chaque année, le groupe danois de jouets (premier fabricant européen et sixième mondial) a enregistré en 2008 l’un des meilleurs résultats de son histoire en dépit de la crise internationale.

Article Link (Libération)

Children Get Cellphones at Age 8

According to a recent study by the charity Personal Finance
Education Group, the average child gets a cellphone when they're
8-years-old.

To look at the stat differently, 35% of 8-year-olds have a mobile phon.

Article Link (Gizmodo)

Tween Virtual World Status Q1 2009

U.S. TOY INDUSTRY SALES GENERATE $21.64 BILLION IN 2008

According to leading market research
company, The NPD Group, U.S. retail sales of toys generated $21.64
billion in 2008 compared to $22.32 billion in 2007*, a decline of 3
percent.  With a loss of 5 percent, the fourth quarter of 2008 (Oct. -
Dec.) showed the most significant decline in sales for the year.

Despite slowing sales, particularly during the turbulent economy
that plagued the fourth quarter of 2008, recent research from NPD**
shows spending on toys captured the largest share of total expenditures
on kids ages 0-14 during the five weeks leading up to Christmas. 
Apparel & accessories, video game hardware, and video/PC game
software followed toys in terms of dollar sales ranking.

Top properties for the year (based on total dollar sales) included
Barbie, Crayola, Star Wars, Transformers, and Webkinz.  Licensed toys
represented 27 percent of total industry sales in 2008, mirroring
2007's 27 percent.  Star Wars and Disney Princess topped the list of
2008's best-selling licensed properties.

Article Link

Tween Trends

The Basics. A quick refresher course in the demo reminded
us that an 8 year old and a 12 year old are developmentally
(physically, emotionally, cognitively) worlds apart. This translates to
a difference in the way they care for their appearance (fun colors,
yummy smells vs. spa-type products for girls), relate to their parents
(temper tantrums vs. door slamming) and most relevant to this
conference play (starting card collections/Webkinz-type online activity
vs. strategy games/social sites like MySpace and Facebook) and
entertain themselves (superhero-based fantasy vs. real-world-hero-based
fantasy).

Tween Trends. Recent studies show an increasingly strong
bond between parents and their tweens (the rise of co-viewing
televisions shows), kid activism (wanting to make the world a better
place) and a less encouraging upswing in anxiety at a younger age with
11-12s worrying about doing well in school, going on their first date,
etc. Not surprisingly, girls especially struggle with self-esteem).

Article Link

LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Gets Color Recognizing Camera

Pocket Lint has been checking out the 2009 Toy Fair in NYC, and
they’ve spotted some of LEGO’s new Mindstorms NXT kits. The 2.0 version
has a new sensor that can differentiate between colors, it can store
and display images on its LCD, and it can also play back sounds. The
kit will cost about $280 when it becomes available later this year…
Watch some of the new models shoot stuff and try to bite you, after the
jump.

Article link

Swordfish Motorcycle Concept Imagines Our Hubless Wheeled Future

Article Link