Wowwee

WowWee has been acquired by a Canadian comany called Optimal Group. It is a surprising purchase given that Optimal Group's primary business is to provide solutions for online credit and debit transactions. The press release (PDF) says that WowWee's revenues amounted to $117 million in 2006 and $131 million in 2005. Wow! The US made up 65% of WowWee's market.

The good news is that we can expect many more robot products from WowWee. Optimal says it intends to broaden WowWee's product portfolio and increase development of products that "combine computer connectivity, utility and entertainment". Furthermore, it seems that they want to continue working on branded and licensed products such as Elvis Alive and the Barry B. Benson Bee.

Wowwee, makers of Roboquad, Robosapien and a host of other toy robots are going to be debuting a new radio controlled flying bee based on Dreamworks main character in its Bee Movie. The Flytech Barry B. Benson will be introduced at this year's Digital Life in NYC.