A new category of front projector-the "Tech-Toy" or "Kid Projector" an ultra low cost projector first introduced by Tiger Electronics, a division of Hasbro, Inc., is finally showing up in industry forecasts to the tune of +7K units in projected sales this year, growing to 1.2M units by 2010, according to our friends at research firm Pacific Media Associates (PMA) (Menlo Park, CA). In the preceding years, the company shows a whopping 665% growth rate on just under 40K units to 305K units from 2007 to 2008, followed by 92% growth to almost 600K units in -09 and 103% growth to hit the 1.2M number in 2010.

Steve Sechrist
Senior Analyst and Editor
of Projection Monthly &
Microdisplay Report

The unit growth may seem big for this new category but the "tech toy" space as a whole increased more than 37% for the 12-month period that ended June 2005, according to industry analyst Anita Frazier, NPD Funworld (Port Washington, NY). This represents nearly $680M in traditional toy sales, a larger dollar volume than the annual sales of the entire preschool electronic learning aisle, she noted.

Here’s another point, the category PMA likes to call Video Boom Box targets among other things, the hot video game market and offers a range of features and functions-anyone of which could be a hit. For instance, the Hasbro/Tiger Zoombox offering is an all-in-one Front Projector/DVD/audio box. This portable 3-in-1 entertainment projector will play DVDs and CDs, and easily connects to the most popular gaming systems. It features a built-in DVD player and stereo speakers to show games or films in a big-screen format with images of up to 60-inches from an 8-foot distance to the screen.

They get around the cost and wall-space issue of a dedicated projector screen (seen a teen’s room lately?) by using a unique "eyes-to-heaven" concept-the device stands perfectly upright and creates a 5-foot diagonal image on the 8-foot ceiling found in most homes. Heck, there may even be a new market for Da-Lite and others here.

The real kicker in all of this is the price. Its Zoombox, an all-in-one Front Projector/DVD/audio box, is selling at a price-breaking $299 and on the Wal-Mart site for $282. The specs indicate this is more of a "toy" projection product; the light engine is based on a TFT-LCD with a display resolution of 557 x 234. It’s powered by a 35W lamp (MR-11 12r bulb) with a 1,000 hour lamp life and 8.0 ANSI lumens (yes eight lumens). The spec sheet we saw read: "for best picture, use in a dark room on a light colored surface". No kidding.

But don’t let the low lumen rating fool you; some analysts think this is a good thing speculating that it is intentional for purposes beyond cost savings. Parents don’t want to put high-powered lamps with hundreds of lumens in the hands of unsupervised (and curious) kids. As one expert / parent put it, being curious and experimental with gadgets is natural for this age group so a truly "tween" product means one where kids can’t accidentally or intentionally blind themselves or others.

Maybe and maybe not. Turns out Insight Media has evaluated this projector, which is clearly a prototype, and others in this new category we call "Digital Teens." We find the brightness is insufficient for the modest uses proposed by Hasbro and others. As a result, we don’t think the right combination of price-performance is here yet and may not be here for another two years. And in the toy business, you need to introduce a product with the intention of selling 250K units from the get go. Selling 7K or even 40K is a failure from that perspective.

The upshot here is that this new class of projector is finally showing up on the industry radar screen with some healthy numbers forecasted by PMA. Our belief is that this is a groundbreaking product that will do more to educate consumers to the benefits of front projection in the home, than anything prior. And that alone is a good thing for the industry.

By the way, PMA, Insight Media and other with be at the Projection Summit discussing this topic in the session titled "New Projection Opportunities." Join us. -SS