在天上游泳的鯊魚(yú)和會(huì)跳舞的機(jī)器人

????公司名稱(chēng)：Wow!Stuff

????所在地：英國(guó)伍爾弗漢普頓

????價(jià)格：均為49.99美元

????適用年齡：充氣鯊魚(yú)Air Swimmer適合8歲以上兒童；跳舞機(jī)器人My Keepon適合6歲以上兒童。

????英國(guó)玩具廠家Wow! Stuff公司首次在美國(guó)發(fā)售玩具就取得了巨大的成功。

????Wow! Stuff是一家僅有50名全職員工的小公司。僅僅兩年前，該公司才決定從玩具進(jìn)口商轉(zhuǎn)型為玩具制造商。

????“我們不想再賣(mài)別人的產(chǎn)品了，”Wow! Stuff的CEO理查德?諾斯說(shuō)。打定主意后，諾斯和其他兩名同事組建了一支發(fā)明團(tuán)隊(duì)，其中一些成員還是科學(xué)家。這只團(tuán)隊(duì)決定創(chuàng)造出令人興奮的、具有創(chuàng)新性的玩具。他們的格言是：“要么一鳴驚人，不然啥都不是！”

????Wow!Stuff公司于2009年推出了第一款玩具，那是一只能放在肩膀上的機(jī)器猴，它的名字叫Dave?！拔覀冑u(mài)出了30萬(wàn)只玩具，但是沒(méi)有一只在美國(guó)賣(mài)出的，”諾斯說(shuō)。一年后，諾斯的一個(gè)朋友搓合他與玩具反斗城會(huì)面，諾斯也抓住了機(jī)會(huì)?！拔覀冿w越了整個(gè)大西洋，只是為了爭(zhēng)取10分鐘的機(jī)會(huì)，把我們的點(diǎn)子展示給玩具反斗城，”他說(shuō)。但這次會(huì)議最終卻持續(xù)了4個(gè)小時(shí)。

????諾斯說(shuō)：“他們非常喜歡我們的創(chuàng)意?！蓖婢叻炊烦橇⒓磁陌?，與Wow!Stuff公司簽訂了一項(xiàng)協(xié)議，決定獨(dú)家代理Wow!Stuff的兩款新玩具在美國(guó)和全球的發(fā)售，正好趕得上2011年的假期季節(jié)。

????第一款產(chǎn)品是一套名叫Air Swimmer的遙控充氣飛行玩具，它包括一只4英尺長(zhǎng)的鯊魚(yú)和一只巨大的小丑魚(yú)，均由遙控控制，可以漂浮在空中。第二款玩具叫做My Keepon，這是一款互動(dòng)式的跳舞機(jī)器人，它最早是為了幫助自閉癥兒童而研發(fā)的。捅它、拍它、捏它，或者搔它的癢，它都會(huì)做出反應(yīng)。My Keepon將于11月3日開(kāi)始在美國(guó)銷(xiāo)售。而Air Swimmer已于上月到店發(fā)售。

????諾斯說(shuō)：“這兩款產(chǎn)品的反響十分強(qiáng)烈。玩具反斗城說(shuō)，我們能生產(chǎn)多少，他們就愿意采購(gòu)多少。”

????譯者：樸成奎

Air Swimmers and My Keepon

????Company: Wow!Stuff

????Location: Wolverhampton, England

????Price: $49.99 for both toys

????Age: Air Swimmers: 8 and up; My Keepon: 6 and up

????UK-based Wow! Stuff launches its toys for the first time in the United States, and it's doing it with a bang.

????Just two years ago, Wow!Stuff, a toymaker with 50 full-time employees, decided to move away from being a toy importer to a toymaker.

????"We didn't want to sell other people's products anymore," said Richard North, CEO of Wow!Stuff. So North and two other colleagues assembled a team of inventors, some of whom were scientists, and embarked on a mission to create exciting, innovative toys. Their mantra was "Wow! Or nothing!"

????"Dave the robotic funky shoulder monkey" was the first toy Wow!Stuff produced in 2009. "We sold 300,000 of those but none in the United States," said North. A year later, a friend proposed a meeting with Toys R Us, and North jumped on it. "We literally flew across the pond for a 10-minute chance to present our ideas to Toys R Us," he said. That meeting ended up running four hours.

????"They loved our ideas," he said, so much so that Toys R Us immediately locked Wow!Stuff in a deal to debut the company's next two toy products exclusively at Toys R Us stores in the United States and worldwide just in time for the 2011 holiday season.

????The first is Air Swimmers, which include a four-foot-long floating remote-controlled shark and giant clownfish. The second toy is My Keepon, an interactive dancing robot that was initially developed to help autistic children. It responds to poking, patting, squeezing and tickling. My Keepon goes on sale on Nov. 3. Air Swimmers hit stores last month.

????"The response has been tremendous. Toys R Us said they'll buy as many [of the toys] as we can make," he said.