consumer

Electronic toys are most popular gifts

Among the most popular electronic gadgets this year are Ipods, cell phones, MP3s and Wi

LA PRENSA

gadgets: Amazon reports that the Apple iPod is its bestselling gift this Christmas season. Electronic devices are popular presents for even the youngest children in the family.960823

According to Amazon.com, the most sought after and bestselling toy this Christmas is the Apple iPod. Users of Amazon spent more than $108 million on the gadget at its virtual store.

The black iPod nano with 4GB, the black iPod video with 30GB and the iPod shuffle with 512MB are in first, second and third place in sales, respectively. On last Dec. 12 alone, Amazon sold 41 of the electronic devices per second and mailed packages to 200 countries.

Panama is no exception when it comes to the popularity of the iPods. Although there are no official figures about sales of the item here, local stores believe they have been selling well.

"What we´ve sold the most of are iPods, laptops, MP3 players, cell phones, Nintendo and Wi," reported Edgar López of Multimax. "And they're not selling to adults only, but to kids as well."

Although trains, dolls, and teddy bears, continue to hold a special attraction for kids in the 21st century, they no longer reign in the market.

Last week, 7 of 10 of the bestselling toys on Amazon for preschoolers were electronic articles.

Electronic toys have been popular for a while, but their popularity has accelerated during the last few years with the availability of devices that appear more like those for adults yet which are made for younger children.

"The big manufactures don´t even call them toys anymore and prefer to say they are in the category of family entertainment," said Jim Silver, editor of the the magazine Toy Wishes, in a recent interview.

The smallest children in the house aren't solely interested in the consoles of video games, digital cameras, cell phones, toys related to the stars of the most popular television programs and movies. "Transformers and Power Rangers are our bestsellers this year", said Cirilo Vergara, supervisor of the toy section at Felix B. Maduro. On being asked about the sale of toys made in China, some of which were recently found to contain toxic substances, Vergara said the impact has been limited. Barbie, Dora, and Elmo continue to make a pretty sound at the cash register.

"Sales fell slightly at the beginning, but not anymore. People are buying those toys just like in past years. The four models that had problems have been taken off the shelves in time and they caused no major problems." he said.