在天上游泳的鯊魚和會跳舞的機器人

????公司名稱：Wow!Stuff

????所在地：英國伍爾弗漢普頓

????價格：均為49.99美元

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

????英國玩具廠家Wow! Stuff公司首次在美國發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口商轉型為玩具制造商。

????“我們不想再賣別人的產品了，”Wow! Stuff的CEO理查德?諾斯說。打定主意后，諾斯和其他兩名同事組建了一支發明團隊，其中一些成員還是科學家。這只團隊決定創造出令人興奮的、具有創新性的玩具。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器猴，它的名字叫Dave。“我們賣出了30萬只玩具，但是沒有一只在美國賣出的，”諾斯說。一年后，諾斯的一個朋友搓合他與玩具反斗城會面，諾斯也抓住了機會。“我們飛越了整個大西洋，只是為了爭取10分鐘的機會，把我們的點子展示給玩具反斗城，”他說。但這次會議最終卻持續了4個小時。

????諾斯說：“他們非常喜歡我們的創意。”玩具反斗城立即拍板，與Wow!Stuff公司簽訂了一項協議，決定獨家代理Wow!Stuff的兩款新玩具在美國和全球的發售，正好趕得上2011年的假期季節。

????第一款產品是一套名叫Air Swimmer的遙控充氣飛行玩具，它包括一只4英尺長的鯊魚和一只巨大的小丑魚，均由遙控控制，可以漂浮在空中。第二款玩具叫做My Keepon，這是一款互動式的跳舞機器人，它最早是為了幫助自閉癥兒童而研發的。捅它、拍它、捏它，或者搔它的癢，它都會做出反應。My Keepon將于11月3日開始在美國銷售。而Air Swimmer已于上月到店發售。

????諾斯說：“這兩款產品的反響十分強烈。玩具反斗城說，我們能生產多少，他們就愿意采購多少。”

????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.