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MUMBAI: At the recently held annual American International
Toy Fair, toy makers showed playthings like Power Rangers
helmets which store secret missions found online, plenty
of online games and even devices that take kids to secure
web sites where they can play activities without wandering
into the darker corners of the Internet.
"Toy companies are looking at where kids are playing
and targeting product against it. Younger and younger
kids are becoming more comfortable with the Internet,"
said New York-based toy consultant Chris Byrne.
According to Nielsen/Net Ratings Inc., an Internet
research company, the number of online users in the
2-to-11 age group rose 19 percent to 15.1 million in
December 2006, from 12.6 million in December 2002.
The
latest strategy comes as the nation's toy industry has
been under pressure to bring back children bombarded
with other entertainment options from iPods, cellphones
and online community sites, informs an official release.
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