Toys 'R' Us Expands CE Assortment

By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 10/28/2008

WAYNE, N.J. — Toys “R” Us will begin carrying Apple iPods and Asus ultraportable notebook PCs this month in a major expansion of its CE assortment.

The products will be sold in Toys “R” Us stores nationwide.

The iPods and related accessories will be merchandised within specially designed “iPod boutique” wall displays. The assortment includes the iPod Shuffle in silver, blue and pink, the iPod Nano in a selection of recently introduced colors, and the iPod Touch. Accessories include products from iHome, iTunes gift cards, and a selection of carrying cases and car adapters.

“The introduction of Apple iPod products reinforces our status as the ultimate shopping destination for kids and furthers our specialist position by offering the best and broadest assortment of products that kids crave,” the company said in a statement.

Circulars announcing the iPod additions broke mid-month.

On the PC front, Toys“R”Us will carry four models of Asus' Eee PC, the kid-friendly ultralight notebook “that is great for Web surfing, emailing and typing school papers,” the retailer said. The notebooks will be available in Linux and Windows XP versions, priced at $269 and $299, respectively, and in black and white color options.

The 2-pound notebooks feature a 7-inch LCD screen, an 8GB flash drive, 512MB of DDR SDRAM memory, three USB ports and built-in wireless capability, as well as a built-in card reader, camera, speakers and microphone.

The Windows XP versions come loaded with Microsoft Office while the Linux versions are equipped with Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice 2.0 word processing office suite.

Toys “R” will herald the introduction of Eee PC products through a comprehensive marketing campaign that includes print efforts and active in-store displays that will enable shoppers to try the notebook. The notebooks will also be promoted in the chain's Nov. 16 weekly circular.