Furby

Furby

The current Furby model (2012–present); depicted is the Voodoo Purple version.
Type	Electronic toy
Inventor	David Hampton
Company	Tiger Electronics (1998-2002) Hasbro (2005-2007, 2012-present)
Country	United States
Availability	1998–2002, 2005–2007, 2012–present
Slogan	Let's Have Fun (1998–2002) Your Emoto-Tronic Friend (2005–2007) A mind of its own (2012–present)
Official website

A Furby is an American electronic robotic toy released in 1998 by Tiger Electronics. It resembles a hamster or owl-like creature and went through a period of being a "must-have" toy following its holiday season launch, with continual sales until 2000. Over 40 million Furbies were sold during the three years of its original production, with 1.8 million sold in 1998, and 14 million in 1999. Its speaking capabilities were translated into 24 languages.

Furbies were the first successful attempt to produce and sell a domestically-aimed robot. A newly purchased Furby starts out speaking entirely Furbish, the unique language that all Furbies use, but is programmed to start using English words and phrases in place of Furbish over time. This process is intended to resemble the process of learning English. The updated Emoto-Tronic Furby, with voice-recognition and more complex facial movements, was sold by Hasbro between 2005-2007. They released another updated Furby with LCD eyes and a mobile app for the holiday season in 2012.

Dave Hampton and Caleb Chung spent nine months creating the Furby (in addition to nine months spent designing the toy). After two attempts at licensing the concept, they invited fellow toy and game inventor Richard C. Levy to join their efforts to sell Furby. Levy brought Furby to Tiger Electronics and Tiger's Roger Shiffman bought the rights to it. Furby's first public appearance was at the American International Toy Fair in 1998.

Furbies originally retailed for about US$35, and upon release, they sold extremely well. Catapulting demand during the 1998 Christmas period drove the resale price over $100, and sometimes as high as several hundred dollars. Furbies sold for over $300 in newspapers and in auctions. Nicknames were given to them, and sellers assigned rarity values to them. Some people continue to call their Furbies by the terms "wedding Furby", "tuxedo Furby", "snowball Furby", "biker Furby", among others. All, of course, were dubbed rare by sellers, because they were so hard to find at the time. In a sure display of the demand for the toy, some sellers scammed people out of a great sum of money, without even having first given them a Furby. Parental battles, arguments, and fights increased rapidly as supplies dwindled, and when retail supplies ran out, parents turned to the Internet, where Furbies could be purchased for two, three, or more multiples of their retail price. During one 12-month period, a total of 27 million Furby toys were sold.