Dean(ish)

The moment you’ve all been waiting for is here. That’s right, friends; Barbie’s back and, this time, she’s tech-savvy. Barbie 2.0, even. Prepare to ditch your iPods for the new wave of the future that is Barbie Girls.

So you’re probably asking yourself, ‘Why would I ditch my iPod for a Barbie?’ Well, the obvious answer is that Barbie Girls play MP3s! Duh! Like, for sure! Uh… ahem. Pardon me - I let the valley girl take over for a minute there.

Mattel is venturing beyond simple dolls and is placing bets on the digital age. With their new toy, called Barbie Girls, Mattel hopes to take away some of the thunder from the too-hip Bratz line of dolls. With Barbie Girl in hand, one can go to BarbieGirls.com *warning: turn your speakers off* and sign up for your own customizable online avatar (think Second Life for pre-teens.) From there, it works just like Second Life; you can buy things with virtual money and walk around on the screen with your avatar. Original.

The new Barbie Girl is basically an MP3 player wearing a Barbie-sized mask. It can hold 120 MP3s with 512MB of disk space. That’s not a terrible price for that size, but let’s look at the facts of this Barbie Girl gizmo:
- One, it doesn’t move. I don’t know about you, but all the Barbies I’ve played with had at least two arms that moved. A non-moving Barbie is just a chunk of pretty plastic.
- Two, it plays songs. I buy Barbies (for my daughter, not me!) because they’re fun to dress and play around with. If it plays songs but can’t be dressed, that just seems silly.
- Three, I don’t see this product filling a gap that’s missing in the world of technology. Kids love the MP3s, but they have cell phones that play MP3s nowadays; these kids are way too cool for Barbie. Those who can’t even read yet don’t need an MP3 player anyway.
- Four, anyone can sign up at BarbieGirl.com (and boy am I glad I did! </endsarcasm> ). If part of the appeal in buying a Barbie Girl is playing with the Barbie Girl’s virtual self at BarbieGirl.com, why not limit sign ups to those who’ve actually purchased the product?

When I consider purchasing a product, even for my kid, I look at it from the long-term perspective. While this new venture may get a few spoiled girls to buy Barbie 2.0, I think there are flaws in the execution of the device that will stop short its shelf life. This new toy isn’t about the doll; it’s about the MP3 player and the virtual experience at BarbieGirl.com. Barbie Girl isn’t trying to be an iPod killer by any means but, when the core of the product is an MP3 player, it helps to look at the real competition. Perhaps if it was more competitively priced - $40, or perhaps even $50 - it would have a better chance.

If you’re still interested, Barbie Girl will be available in July… but you’d be better off buying another 512MB MP3 player for $40 or less, letting your kid sign up for free on BarbieGirls.com, then using the change to buy some real Barbie dolls.

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