US toy retailer Toys ‘R’ Us announced earlier this week that the company plans to launch an Android (News - Alert)-based children’s tablet just in time for the holiday shopping season. The tablet, called Tabeo, will be shipped on October 1 and will be available in stores by October 21. It’s already available for pre-orders on its website.

The Tabeo tablet runs on the Android 4.0 operating system and features Wi-Fi connectivity, 4 gigabytes of expandable memory, a seven-inch multi-touchscreen, an HDMI port, and front- and rear-facing cameras. Battery life will be up to 10 hours for Internet use and up to seven hours when playing video content.

The seven-inch touchscreen tablet will come pre-installed with 50 apps suitable for children, with games such as Fruit Ninja, Angry Birds, and istorybooks. It will also feature its own Tabeo app store, which will contain over 6,000 educational programs, games and books for free. The app store is said to feature apps and content that are suitable for children, all of which will be curated by the Toys ‘R’ Us team.

In a bid to compete with the growing tablet market, the Tabeo children’s tablet is set to go on sale for $149.99. Toys ‘R’ Us hopes that this price point will make it competitive with other tablet vendors targeting the children’s niche, including VTech’s InnoTab and LeapFrog Enterprises (News - Alert) Inc.’s LeapPad, which just came out in an upgraded version, LeapPad 2.

The tablet is essentially the same as adult tablet devices on the market. The main difference is that it is child friendly and focuses more on software and content that is specifically targeted for children.

"We are proud that Tabeo offers robust and flexible parental controls that can help protect children as they surf the Internet,” said Toys ‘R’ Us vice president, Troy Peterson.

This will be the first children’s tablet under the Toys ‘R’ Us brand. With the company’s announcement to enter into the tablet device market, LeapFrog’s shares reportedly took a tumble and fell 90 cents in Monday morning’s trading day.

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