06 08 23 - CNN Aug 11-Move over Energizer Bunny, here's Nabaztag!

From Annette Melikian for ZATIK CNN-Technology-Nabaztag in armeno=Coniglio=Rabbit

Nabaztag can alert users when emails are delivered -- even when its owner's PC is not connected.
PARIS, France (Reuters) -- In the evolution of electronic companions, first came the speaking doll, then the Tamagotchi virtual pet, then Sony's short-lived AIBO dog.
Now, it could be the dawn of the Wi-Fi rabbit era.
The plastic bunny with ears like TV antennae can read out emails and mobile phone text messages, tell children to go to bed, alert one to a stock collapse and give traffic updates by receiving Internet feeds via a wireless Wi-Fi network.
The bunny, which stands 9 inches tall and has a white cone-like body that lights up when it speaks, is called Nabaztag, which means rabbit in Armenian, its creator's mother tongue. It can also wiggle its ears and sing songs.
"If I send a text message to my wife and she is busy cooking, she will hear it without having to check her mobile," said a Paris-based telecoms analyst at a international brokerage, who did not wish to be named.
French entrepreneur Rafi Haladjian, who conceived the idea, says the rabbit sometimes carries more sway over children than their parents and can help men who have misbehaved win forgiveness from angry partners.
"It is sad, but true," he said.
Nabaztag costs 115 euros ($148) in France, 80 pounds ($152) in Britain and $150 in the United States. It is made in Shenzhen, China.
Since its market debut last year, 50,000 Nabaztags have been sold in France, Britain, Belgium and Switzerland, and Haladjian hopes to sell 150,000 by the end of this year.
The businessman is now looking to conquer the United States, where he only has a tiny presence, and is gearing up for the December holiday shopping season.
Last December, Haladjian appeared on CNN for three minutes and received 350,000 online information requests.
"The only problem was that we had zero bunnies, we had sold them all already and we had not even started selling them in the United States yet," he said.
The rabbit is made by French company Violet, 55 percent owned by Haladjian and 30 percent by Banexi Ventures, a private equity arm of French bank BNP Paribas

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