If there’s a kid on your holiday shopping list, you'd better pay close attention. First, when you get to the Toys “R” Us store, just keep driving. Seriously, if you buy anything there, on Christmas morning, you might as well let the kid unwrap a box of dung.
I’m not kidding. Your old go-to list of brands like Hasbro, Mattel, Parker Brothers, Matchbox, Milton Bradley, Playskool, and Fisher-Price, brands that you loved as kid, are as exciting to kids today as a box of dirt. Board games? Dolls? Toy trains and cars? Really?
Today, it’s all about tech. And preferably handheld tech that has a glass front, and a silhouette of an apple on back. That’s right. Not surprisingly, kids covet the same stuff that the adults do. You scream, I scream, we all scream for Apple.
Consider the cold, hard facts: In a Nielsen survey of kids' consumer electronics desires, a whopping 44% of children age 6 to 12 named the iPad as the gift they wanted most. Right behind the iPad came the iPod Touch and iPhone, named by 30% and 27% respectively. (Clearly because we’re already way above 100%, some kids enterprisingly named more than one item.) The iPad was also the number one desired electronic gift last year, but it was named by only 31% last year. If you’re an Apple shareholder, these tidings should make your cup runneth over with holiday good cheer.
Rounding out the top-ten electronic favs are a computer, tablet (non iPad), Nintendo 3DS, Kinect for Xbox 360, Nintendo DS/DSi/DS Lite, television set, and smartphone (non iPhone). Blu-ray players made the list at number 12, named by 17% of the kids. Incidentally, if there’s also a teenager on your list, you can just pick up two iPads, it was also named as the most-desired electronic gift by those aged 13 and up.
Speak & Spell? Simon? Tickle Me Elmo? Furby? Gone and forgotten. Sure – someday the Apple stuff will join all the other outdated toys in your closet. You’ll be lucky to ebay your iPhone 4 for 5 bucks. But for now, if you think you need to buy someone’s love, make sure you’re wrapping up a delicious fruit.
BTW, because I know how much you enjoy reading my blogs, I’m sure you’ll want to buy me a Christmas present. I really want an iPad. A Barbie doll? Not so much.
