Toy Makers Attach Products to IPod Craze

After bemoaning the emergence of the iPod as children‘s latest must-have toy, toy makers are now looking at the digital musical player as their own marketing strategy. For even younger children, Baby Einstein Co. has a rocking chair that connects to an iPod so parents can sing along while the child rocks. And Emerson Radio Corp. has a SpongeBob SquarePants speaker system that plugs into an iPod, part of its line of electronics sold under the Nickelodeon brand. Apple has sold more than 42 million iPods, 30 million in 2005, making the gadget a huge marketing opportunity for companies in a range of industries. Merchandise including iPod clothing, leather cases, speakers, massage chairs were part of an estimated $850 million cottage industry last year, according to NPD Group Inc., a market research firm in Port Washington, N.Y. In fact, according to the report, sales of children‘s electronics and other communication gadgets fell 8 percent last year, a sign that kids want the real thing, according to Anita Frazier, a toy analyst at NPD. (Read More... Olberlin Times)