IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GADGET CHATSWORTH ELECTRONIC TOY MARKETER LOOKS FORWARD TO HOLIDAY SEASON.Byline: Robert Monroe Staff Writer CHATSWORTH - Don't call Alex Elnekaveh's latest toy invention a Furby. The RoboNagi, soon to be available at Elnekaveh's online site GadgetUniverse.com, is a far cry, he insists, from the fuzzy, eerily humanlike companion toy from a few years back. The pudgy plastic robot has a capacity to learn English as well as interact with other RoboNagis and people. ``Furbys are total idiots compared to RoboNagi,'' said Elnekaveh with a sneer. It's a typical declaration for GadgetUniverse, the Web site affiliated with TopiX Innovation Gallery, a 4-year-old company based in a Chatsworth business park. After all, this is the company that bills itself as the ``undisputed leader in innovation.'' And at least as far as Internet traffic Internet traffic is the flow of data around the Internet. It includes web traffic, which is the amount of that data that is related to the World Wide Web, along with the traffic from other major uses of the Internet, such as electronic mail and peer-to-peer networks. is concerned, the company can claim to run with gadget (1) Slang for any hardware device, typically small. Synonymous with "gizmo." (2) A mini application that resides on a computer desktop or personal home page, typically found in the Windows environment. meccas like The Sharper Image and Brookstone. Internet tracker PC Data Online recorded 1.25 million unique user visits to the GadgetUniverse site in August, more than the sites of the two mall regulars combined, though its Web hits slid to a number closer to those competitors in September. Online sales make up about 25 percent of the total, with the rest coming through the company's monthly catalogs. TopiX Creative Director Guy Turner said that number might rise to 35 percent by next year but for the foreseeable future, old-fashioned catalog sales will reign. ``My gut feeling gut feeling Intuition, visceral sensation is catalogs will still outdo online for a long time. It's so entrenched en·trench also in·trench v. en·trenched, en·trench·ing, en·trench·es v.tr. 1. To provide with a trench, especially for the purpose of fortifying or defending. 2. ,'' Turner said. ``You still have a lot of people who are just not that online-savvy.'' Industry observers said the real measure of success for online sales in particular and retailers in general will come this holiday season. Sales projections are anticipated to be only half what they were last year. GadgetUniverse's remote-control dogs and atomic clocks face a fickle audience. ``The gadget market is obviously a big market,'' said Ken Gassman, a Sharper Image analyst with Davenport and Co. ``The concern when we see any of those companies is that all that spending is discretionary.'' Most of the spending still takes place in actual stores, too, say analysts like Gassman. Indeed, GadgetUniverse hopes for $40 million in sales this calendar year but that would still compare poorly to the $243 million made by Sharper Image and $272 million by Brookstone in their most recent fiscal years. ``For Sharper Image and Brookstone, (Web sites) are just an extension of their bricks-and-mortar image,'' said Jeff Moulton, an Internet analyst with PC Data Online. ``You're seeing that with more retailers and those are the kinds of people who are going to survive.'' Not that any of this fazes Elnekaveh, a native of Israel who has lived in the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. for 12 years. He said his core customers, the gizmo Slang for any hardware device. See gadget. lovers, will remain loyal. ``This is one of the most incredible years for gadget people,'' he said with boyish boy·ish adj. Characteristic of or befitting a boy: boyish charm. boy  ish·ly adv. enthusiasm. ``We have more than
400 new gadgets.''
CAPTION(S): 5 photos Photo: (1 -- color) ROBONAGI Interactive robot (2 -- color) WALKIE-TALKIE WATCHES FRS FRS abbr. Fellow of the Royal Society FRS, n “flexed rotated side-bent,” an osteopathic abbreviation used to describe vertebral position in cases of spinal dysfunction. radio wristwatches have range of 100 feet (3 -- color) SONY DIGITAL STILL CAMERA Records images straight to CD (4 -- color) MUSIC STORE Digital jukebox (1) Software for managing music files. Also called a "digital music manager," "music manager," or just "jukebox," it lets users organize MP3 and other audio files into playlists, play the songs, rip CD tracks to MP3 and other formats, burn CDs and download titles to portable can store 2,000 CD tracks (5) Alex Elnekaveh, CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of GadgetUniverse.com, stands with some of the gadgets his Chatsworth firm markets online. Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News |
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