OPMR

[David Randolph]

I'v noticed at my local ToysRUs and Target stores that the WowWee products are just sitting on the shelves and seem to get little interest from customers. Could just be a fluke. From personal experience my two kids are not interested in any of the 'Robo' toys.

Thanks for the information capricho

I think my two kids would love WowWee's toys, but they're not available here in Portugal, nor in Europe for that matter.

I fully understand and agree with your assessment of WowWee's current condition capricho. The company probably isn't in good financial shape, as its robo toys are out of fashion. I think this is why the owners of the company sold it for just $65 M. In 2005, when the company had $27.5 M EBITDA, I think OPMR would have to pay at least 10 times EBITDA, that is, $275 M to acquire WowWee.

I think that just a better distribution and marketing campaign could make out of fashion toys in the US, in fashion toys in Europe and Japan, for example, since they weren't for sale here before (even though I admit kids aren't as fans of dinosaurs like in the past).

My daughter loves Hannah Montana and so I'm sticking with JAKK and not getting into OPMR for the time being...

Yeah, sure, Hannah Montana is hot now and I love JAKK. Robosapiens is out of fashion ... but, remember, JAKK is a $700 M market cap company (it should be double) and WowWee was bought for $65 M. And you have to consider the company has a wonderful technology, robo-toys will always be wanted, the company just needs to get out of dinosaurs and make something like a robo-spiderman, for example (everything related to spiderman is very hot right now here in Europe). WowWee also needs to expand its geographical reach.

Take for example MCZ, another company that makes toys (well, they make customized controllers for PlayStation). That's valued by the market at $60 M. I believe WowWee is worth a lot more than MCZ.

I'll keep holding OPMR for the long term.

[AussieTrader]

Just to add another geographic input. Wowee already market a Spider Sapien (based on Spider man) and Homer Sapien (based on, well yep Homer Simpson) Look at the link http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/24/wowwee-cashes-in-with-new-spidersapien-and-homersapien/

These are in the shops in Australia. By the way the dragonfly RC is sold out where ever I look for it. Very popular here. I wanted one, but can't get it for Xmas 

[David Randolph]

Just to add another geographic input. Wowee already market a Spider Sapien (based on Spider man) and Homer Sapien (based on, well yep Homer Simpson) Look at the link http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/24/wowwee-cashes-in-with-new-spidersapien-and-homersapien/

These are in the shops in Australia. By the way the dragonfly RC is sold out where ever I look for it. Very popular here. I wanted one, but can't get it for Xmas 

It's case to say WOW Aussie, awesome information!!!

So they're already doing what I thought they should do ... and that HomerSapien is cool

It looks like WowWee can turn anything into a robot ... it just has to do like JAKK does and pursuit the hot toys ... for example, they could do an Hannah Montana robot if they wanted and bought the permits.

I'm absolutely confident we have a long term winner here. And if you're concerned about the short term, consider insiders have been buying around current levels and Q4 is probably the strongest quarter for WowWee (well, I'm not sure about that, JAKK's strongest quarter is Q3 - but Q4 is the 2nd strongest).

Again, thanks a lot Aussie

[berloga]

I think robotic toys are very cool if they address certain interests in kids. The problem is that kids lose interest over time. However, since kids grow fast, they lose interest in many things as they acquire new skills and learn. My daughter was happy about her robotic dog on leash that she could walk, pet, cuddle with. Now, the dog is in my way all the time! But check out these RoboPandas! They are real cool. I think, first off, a robot must be an eye catcher. Second comes the functionality. The more it does, the better. I think robots with adaptive learning algorithms built in are very special. They help kids better develop their communication skills. Japanese are famous for that.

http://robotgossip.blogspot.com/2007/01/wow-wee-robopanda-and-roboquad.html

[capricho]

My business partners, two grown 60-year old men, came in the office today with the robotic dragonfly. They acted like two 5 year olds with this thing. I think the demographics for this toy needs to be adjusted.

[David Randolph]

My business partners, two grown 60-year old men, came in the office today with the robotic dragonfly. They acted like two 5 year olds with this thing. I think the demographics for this toy needs to be adjusted.

Lol, I had a good laugh the first time I read this post and now again. Thanks for the information capricho ... I guess you're starting to be a bit less pessimistic about this pick, right?

Fundamentally, it appears to me that WowWee has some cool toys and some others that are out of fashion, at least in the US. Probably, even though the Drangonfly robot has been selling well, that won't be enough to make the company profitable if we consider a full year of operations. However, the technology to turn everything into a robot is there and as berloga says, robo toys are attractive and have value.

There's also a problem/opportunity in WowWee's business: the company hasn't been distributing into vast areas of the World, mainly Europe, most of SouthEast Asia, Japan and South America. The company's sales could triple if they just expand their distribution network. This is where OPMR with its deep pockets comes in.

I would say that WowWee's 2007 wasn't great, but 2008 is very promising.

Technically, OPMR is knocking on bullish territory's door ... it just need to cross above the 50 days SMA, currently at $4.07. If we could close above $4.19 today it would be great ... if not, well, patience, fundamentals will support and eventually push the share price higher.

I'll keep holding OPMR for the long term.

[David Randolph]

OPMR isn't just cheap, it has huge upside potential, considering the products WowWee will launch in 2008:

Breakthrough ''Micro-GPS'' Solution from Evolution Robotics(TM) Debuts at CES, Featured on WowWee's New Rovio(TM) Robot

NorthStar(R) Autonomous Navigation System Demonstrated Live on WowWee's Revolutionary New Rovio Telepresence Robot, with More Products Scheduled for 2008 and 2009

Jan 7, 2008 7:00:00 AM
Copyright Business Wire 2008

LAS VEGAS & PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Evolution Robotics, Inc. today announced the introduction of a major breakthrough that marks the start of a new era of "super smart" robots for the consumer market. For the first time publicly, the company unveiled its NorthStar 2.0 system, which enables robots to be truly aware of their environment and perform everyday tasks with complete autonomy. The first product to use NorthStar will be WowWee Group Limited's new Rovio(TM) telepresence robot, which debuts at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week in Las Vegas. WowWee, an Optimal Group company (NASDAQ:OPMR), is a leading designer, developer, marketer and distributor of innovative hi-tech consumer robotic and entertainment products.

NorthStar works like a combination GPS, RADAR and autopilot system rolled into one. It's designed to operate in everyday places like a home or office. So instead of showing you what exit to take on the highway, it guides your robot along a route that you establish, i.e. from your living room to a specific location in the kitchen. The system also represents a major breakthrough in price, coming in at 1/100th to 1/1000th the cost of equivalent systems used in research and industrial applications.

"These are aerospace grade technologies being introduced at consumer prices," said Dr. Paolo Pirjanian, president and CEO of Evolution Robotics. "NorthStar will have a very profound impact on the robotics market, starting with new products in 2008 and rapidly expanding in 2009."

    The list of new products in development includes:

    --  a new generation of intelligent floor care robots that clean
        better, faster and far more efficiently than any product
        currently on the market

    --  super smart toys that interact with kids at blazingly fast
        speeds and bring video game action to life into the real world

    --  telepresence robots (such as the new WowWee Rovio robot) that
        allow the user to connect to the home or office while away and
        check if everything is ok

Visitors to WowWee's booth at CES will be able to see NorthStar in action on WowWee's Rovio robot. Demonstrations include logging onto a Rovio robot located 215 miles away in Evolution Robotics' offices in Pasadena and telling it where to go with a single click of a mouse. Rovio robot's built-in camera will broadcast back live video as NorthStar autonomously guides the robot along its course to different locations.

"NorthStar is clearly a market changing technology and we're very proud to have WowWee's Rovio robot lead the way," said Davin Sufer, CTO of WowWee Group Limited. "This is the first of many products we plan to launch using NorthStar and I can only say to our customers, prepare to be amazed."

    With NorthStar, Rovio robot will be able to:

    --  let you drive the robot with shortcut "go-to" commands, (i.e.
        go to the kids' room) to make it easy to control the robot
        remotely over the web or from your mobile phone

    --  operate in "patrol mode" and automatically send you pictures
        of specific locations you want to check, such as making sure
        your dogs have food in their bowl each morning, or that they
        weren't sleeping on the living room couch again

    --  autonomously guide itself back on course if your kids pick it
        up and move it

    --  navigate to its charging station from anywhere in the house,
        and dock with pinpoint accuracy, when its batteries run low

"Rovio robot is smart enough to give the Mars Rovers a run for their money," said Dr. Pirjanian, who worked on NASA robots while at JPL. "We are very excited to be a strategic partner with WowWee and working together to bring robotics into a new era."

Rovio telepresence robot will be available in the second half of 2008, at a retail price of $299. For more information and to see the latest WowWee products, please visit www.wowwee.com.

NorthStar represents the first in a line of breakthrough, low cost robotic components Evolution Robotics is developing to bring smarter robots to the mass market. For more information on NorthStar and other solutions from Evolution Robotics, please go to: www.evolution.com.

I think Rovio is a great product and there are many more possibilities for this "robots for the consumer" market.

As for the 14% low volume drop on Friday's session ... 

I'll keep holding OPMR for the long term.

[stocky]

MVIS also rocking at CES Vegas.

[David Randolph]

MVIS also rocking at CES Vegas.

Yes, up 4% yesterday. That Pico Projector looks like an awesome product, but MVIS fundamentals are lousy. The company has been losing an immense amount of money each quarter and it has been printing new shares in a big way to cover the losses. You see 42.9 million shares outstanding at the end of 2006, but 9 months later it was already 56 million. I don't like that stock stocky, but thanks for the information

As for the 14% low volume drop on Friday's session ...

It was followed by a 14.8% rally

The fact that WowWee can turn anything into a robot and the micro-GPS capability announced yesterday opens a vast number of possibilities for home-robots.

This is an anticipated trend for 2008:

«3. The year of the home robot
We've all grown up watching visions of home robots on TV -- from "Lost In Space" to "The Jetsons" to "Gigantor." Admit it. You've always wanted a robot wandering around, making conversation and doing your chores.

Although a few home robot products have emerged over the last two decades, they've all been either too dumb or too expensive for broad consumer use. Most robots available today are either niche products for hard-core enthusiasts and programmers, or simple children's toys that everyone loses interest in after a few days of play.

But 2008 will be the year when very intelligent and very affordable home robots go mainstream, thanks to a brilliant new idea: Connect the robot to a home PC via Wi-Fi, and let the PC serve as the robot's brains. This innovation means that home robots can cost a few hundred dollars, instead of a couple thousand.

One robot that could come out by late 2008 or 2009 is Hanson Robotics' Zeno. When finished, Zeno will be able to walk, talk, express "emotions," make eye contact with you, learn your name and what you look like, and greet you by name when you walk into the room.

Sony is rumored to be planning the resurrection of its AIBO robot dog, but with one very major difference: Instead of carrying around a robot brain internally, AIBO will connect via Wi-Fi to a nearby Sony PlayStation. The robotic pooch will also have a Webcam on its forehead. According to the rumor, the new AIBO PS will respond to voice commands, and also guard your home, e-mailing you photos of any unauthorized intruders.

Whether these two products actually ship -- and whether they ship in 2008 -- remains to be seen. But the idea of using a home PC as the brains of a robot via Wi-Fi is obviously superior to trying to sell $2,000 home robots. Look for Wi-Fi-based robots emerging from small companies this year, too.»

As for WowWee's Rovio:

«Visitors to WowWee's booth at CES will be able to see NorthStar in action on WowWee's Rovio robot. Demonstrations include logging onto a Rovio robot located 215 miles away in Evolution Robotics' offices in Pasadena and telling it where to go with a single click of a mouse. Rovio robot's built-in camera will broadcast back live video as NorthStar autonomously guides the robot along its course to different locations.

"NorthStar is clearly a market changing technology and we're very proud to have WowWee's Rovio robot lead the way," said Davin Sufer, CTO of WowWee Group Limited. "This is the first of many products we plan to launch using NorthStar and I can only say to our customers, prepare to be amazed."»

$299 for a robot that goes where you want it to go through a click of a mouse and film things that can be seen in your computer seems like a great product. I wonder if in the near future it will be possible to make a robot get us things ... for example, I'm here writing, but I need a book standing in the living room ... how about directing the robot through this laptop so that he gets and brings the right book to me? This seems much closer now, because if the robot has a built in camera, and if I can see what he's "seeing",  I could click on the object of my desire and possibly he could understand it ... I don't know about this, but definitely, a vast number of possibilities exist and WowWee is at the center of the "home robot" revolution.

A lot of potential for just $65 M. I would say OPMR made an awesome deal when buying WowWee.

I'll keep holding OPMR for the long term.

[David Randolph]

OPMR was the second biggest loser of the Main today, with a 8.1% decline. This was on relatively low volume of 87,900 shares changing hands.

Talking about more meaningful numbers, there was a form 13 filed with the SEC today showing Blair William & Co now owns 2,519,381 OPMR shares, or 9.68% of the company.

The last time they filed a similar form was in January 17, 2007, when they held 2,479,421 shares. OPMR closed at $8.97 that day.

OPMR's current market cap is (2,519,381/0.0968)*$4.06 = $106 M.

Before paying $65 M for WowWee, OPMR had $113 M in cash and $52 M in total debt. The stock was this cheap because investors thought it would lose a lot of money going forward, due to the US ban of online gambling (now I wonder if the reason that led me to sell GIGM - a German ban of online gambling - isn't a cause for concern in OPMR's case too. At first sight I don't think so because OPMR is basically WowWee now, the payments side of the business probably won't make or lose a significant amount of money going forward).

I believe WowWee will be worth significantly more in the future, because there's an emerging trend of home-robots and the company has the technologies to dominate that market, which can be huge. Moreover, as we've seen, WowWee hasn't been distributing into vast regions of the World (like, for example, Europe, Japan and South America) and that's about to change with OPMR's capital infusion.

By the time consumers get the home-robots in the 2nd half of 2008 and investigate who makes those wonderful and cheap products, they'll find WowWee and OPMR's shares, hopefully a lot higher than where they are today.

Will OPMR ever go back to its all time high of $53, that is, will OPMR be a $1 B plus company sometime in the future? I believe it's possible.

[AussieTrader]

WowWee's Award-Winning Flytech Line Unveils New Flyer, Honored at Consumer Electronics Show

2008 Line Recognized by National Media Outlets
January 10, 2008: 10:00 AM EST


WowWee, an Optimal Group company (NASDAQ: OPMR), today announced its newest addition in the award-winning Flytech line was honored at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), just days after being unveiled. Flytech Bladestar(TM), an indoor flying machine with onboard navigation, was one of only 20 products awarded with an "Editor's Choice Award" by Popular Mechanics magazine as a technologically advanced innovation. In addition, WowWee's 2008 product portfolio, including the Flytech Bladestar flyer, has been featured on dozens of national, international and regional broadcast segments over the course of the four day CES event, highlighting the fact that WowWee continues to forge new categories in personal robotics and entertainment products that are imaginative, inventive and functional. Highlights include ABC's "Good Morning America," CNN and CNN "Headline News," MSNBC and Fox television.

FlyTech Bladestar(TM), a revolutionary indoor machine with unique sensor detection, is set to change helicopter flight as we know it today. The first flying toy with sensor-based navigation that enables it to glide itself through the air with two wings that spin with helicopter-like movement, the Bladestar flyer is made from ultra-light, flexible materials designed to be crash resistant. Built-in infrared sensors allow the indoor flyer to detect and avoid obstacles - consumers can even face-off two Bladestar flyers in a duel The Flytech Bladestar flyer has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NY1 and CNET-TV live from CES.

The 2008 FlyTech line of indoor flyers will also feature a diverse collection of vertical flyers including the FlyTech(TM) Bat, the FlyTech(TM) Dragon and, new for girls, the FlyTech(TM) FairyFly, which has been featured in several broadcast segments in regional markets across the U.S. this week. In addition, the FlyTech(TM) Butterfly, which is also new for girls, FlyTech(TM) Mosquito and FlyTech Moth(TM) flyers feature a simple launching dock instead of a remote controller - the perfect introduction to flight for more novice flyers.

Other 2008 products recognized by leading media outlets include:

The Rovio(TM) robot, a revolution in home exploration and telepresence, is a WiFi enabled robotic webcam that moves in all directions with ease and can be controlled remotely using any web accessible device. The Rovio robot is also the first to feature the NorthStar® smart navigation and positioning system, which represents a major breakthrough in robotics. ABC's "Good Morning America" featured the Rovio robot in a segment on hot new consumer electronics. The Rovio robot was also featured in The New York Times online and on CNN and MSNBC.

Tribot(TM), the next generation of WowWee's award-winning Robosapien(TM) robot, is a three-wheeled personality-packed companion equipped with different play modes for hours of entertainment. Complete with distinct expressions and animated eyebrows, the Tribot robot features an omni-directional motion easily controlled by a tilt sensor remote control. CNN's Headline News, FOX, G4-TV and CNET-TV all featured the Tribot robot on reports about new innovations being introduced at CES.

Information about WowWee's product portfolio - including the latest products announcements for 2008 - are featured on www.wowwee.com.

[David Randolph]

Thanks for posting the following press release AussieTrader:

• WowWee's Award-Winning Flytech Line Unveils New Flyer, Honored at Consumer Electronics Show
Marketwire (Thu, Jan 10)

WowWee is really committed to its "flying robot" technology, as it expands its line of products meaningfully:

«FlyTech Bladestar(TM), a revolutionary indoor machine with unique sensor detection, is set to change helicopter flight as we know it today. The first flying toy with sensor-based navigation that enables it to glide itself through the air with two wings that spin with helicopter-like movement, the Bladestar flyer is made from ultra-light, flexible materials designed to be crash resistant. Built-in infrared sensors allow the indoor flyer to detect and avoid obstacles - consumers can even face-off two Bladestar flyers in a duel The Flytech Bladestar flyer has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, NY1 and CNET-TV live from CES.

The 2008 FlyTech line of indoor flyers will also feature a diverse collection of vertical flyers including the FlyTech(TM) Bat, the FlyTech(TM) Dragon and, new for girls, the FlyTech(TM) FairyFly, which has been featured in several broadcast segments in regional markets across the U.S. this week. In addition, the FlyTech(TM) Butterfly, which is also new for girls, FlyTech(TM) Mosquito and FlyTech Moth(TM) flyers feature a simple launching dock instead of a remote controller - the perfect introduction to flight for more novice flyers.»

When the Fortune magazine talks about robots, 3 out of 7 are made by WowWee, look here:

Robots Galore

OPMR's management is executing the following plan:

«- Expanding product design, development and production capabilities to produce an increased number of SKUs (stock keeping units) at varying price points;»

And if they also execute on the next part of their plan ...

«- Expanding sales and distribution through a broadening of the sales channels, particularly outside North America and in emerging markets;»

... what you have is a recipe for much higher revenues and profits in 2008 than in 2007.

[David Randolph]

OPMR holding strong above the 50 days SMA, which acted as a resistance for so long. Business outlook is very promising.

[David Randolph]

Nothing new on OPMR, still being supported by the 50 days SMA and with the upside temporarily limited by the $4.66 horizontal resistance level.

[David Randolph]

OPMR lost steam and is back down below the 50 days SMA. But if I like JAKK at $800 M market cap, I got love OPMR at $97 M. Just wait for those robots to hit the shelves this holiday season.

But, over the short term, it is possible that WowWee's results in the 4th quarter and 2007 were bad and OPMR goes down to retest the $3.28 support level, for a double bottom formation.

But I'm confident that the downside is limited and the long term upside is huge.