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Longer term, there's little question that Wal-Mart has gained an edge. Its share of the $25 billion traditional toy business has grown from 10.8% in 1993 to 21% today (and some analysts estimate it's more like 25%). Toys "R" Us, KB Toys and smaller toy chains, meanwhile, have either lost share, quit the business or struggled to hold ground. Says analyst Todd Kuhrt of Midwest Research, "It's clear that consumers are voting with their wallets for Wal-Mart and Target...
...retailer may be a harbinger of things to come. Mattel, the world's largest toymaker, may begin to follow a similar business model with other brands it owns, relying more on direct-to-consumer marketing to avoid the retail price-slashing wars that have rocked the industry, says Oppenheimer analyst Linda Bolton Weiser. Mattel's Fisher-Price division is already sending out its own catalog. Can Hot Wheels bumper-car birthday parties be far behind...
...eventually follow Sega's lead: get out of the brutally competitive console business and focus on software. By doing this Nintendo's growth might become limited, but the company could become a profitable boutique video-game brand that caters to children, newcomers and enthusiasts. In fact, game analyst Hisakazu Hirabayashi insists that scenario has already happened. "Since around 2000, Nintendo was no longer a member of the video-game industry. Its philosophy and method are fundamentally different from the other console and software companies. It's not a loser only because it's taken itself out of the race." Every...
...reason to be tense. Once accused of being lax toward Islamist extremism, Britain's crackdown on U.K.-based radicals - plus Prime Minister Tony Blair's backing of the Iraq war - may have made London a prime target. "Both sides have reached a point of confrontation," says Mustafa Alani, an analyst at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies in London. "Terrorists might attempt something in London over Christmas for political and practical reasons." Security forces in other countries are concerned too, and have raised their own levels of alert. This Christmas, like last, is a season...
...announced rescue plans for their stricken card units. A chain of collapses is unlikely. But to some observers, the situation is disturbingly like the near meltdown of South Korea's financial system in the late 1990s. "The scale [of card-company losses] is not insubstantial," says Hank Morris, an analyst with IRC Consulting in Seoul. "You're talking about real money here...