14 DAY TRIAL // Toys “R” Us, the toy store chain that currently operates more than 1,000 stores in 35 countries worldwide, is planning to bring ASUS' netbook PCs and Apple's iPods to children all over the world, as part of the company's major expansion of its CE assortment. The Eee PCs and iPods will begin selling in Toys “R” Us shops all over the world this month, with the toy store also planning to come out with a comprehensive marketing campaign to attract potential customers.
The toy store will begin selling four models from ASUS' Eee PC lineup that will become available with both a Windows and a Linux operating system. Apparently, given the netbook's specifications, the company believes it is also suitable for young customers, as the lightweight portable computer system is “great for Web surfing, emailing and typing school papers,” the retailer says.
Price-wise, the netbooks will be available for $269 and $299, for the Linux and Windows XP versions, respectively. The selected models are part of ASUS' 7-inch lineup of Eee PCs, and sport an 8GB flash drive, 512MB of DDR SDRAM memory, three USB ports, built-in wireless connectivity, card-reader, camera, speakers and microphone. They will become available in both black and white color options, with the Windows XP models also being equipped with Microsoft Office, while the Linux models will come with Sun Microsystems' OpenOffice 2.0 word processing office suite.
Toys “R” Us will try to attract potential customers through a marketing campaign that will include print efforts and in-store displays meant to make shoppers try out the Eee PC netbooks. These will also be promoted, along with the range of iPods, including the iPod shuffle, nano and touch, in the store's November 16 weekly circular.
The new offer from Toys “R” Us comes to benefit Taiwanese manufacturer ASUS as well, as it will get even closer to its 5 million units sold target.