Kids love them. Parents love them. They are used as teaching aids in school and extra-curricular programs.

Nerd adults such as myself have their own secret stash in the basement.

Mindstorms seemed like the killer toy when they first appeared. The MIT programmable brick was reborn as a full fledged consumer product. Geek life was good.

Seven shopping seasons later, the product line has eroded into a single boxed set which, I can confirm, is relegated to a bottom shelf, back aisle position even at the Mall of America Lego store.

I visited the kickoff Minnesota First Lego League regional tournament the weekend before last. As the season progresses, kids all over the world will be testing their software design and mechanical engineering mettle. 4th graders will be solving robotics challenges that have parents scratching their heads.

So how does a product so well regarded, with so much appeal to both kids and educators, fall to the wayside?

Usman Latif theorizes that at some point Lego discovered that an increase in Mindstorms sales was cannibalizing profits from Lego's traditional kits. It was about this time 2 years ago that Lego released their annual report which eluded to just that, and the marginanlization of the Mindstorms line did seem to follow.

An interesting observation (if correct) is that the electronic bits in the RIS package don't constitute a very substantial production cost. If that's really the case then Lego, listen up:

Discontinue the Mindstorms line altogether.

That programmable brick doesn't need to compete against your other products - it should be your other products. Recreate the RCX as a smaller 6x5x1 brick, powered by a seperate battery pack.  Integrate it into everything.

Drawbridges should be raising at the approach of RFID enabled minifigs (who have sworn allegiance to the appropriate king, of course). The Mars Rover Technics kit should not only model the form, but also the function of the real deal. Lego moms shouldn't be subjected to the pain of stepping on hidden carpet bricks - there should be an official robo Lego vacuum that cleans up after you have finished playing.

At some point, hackable toys aren't going to be a novelty. Hackability will be a requirement. Hackability will be the standard. I'd like to see Lego win here, but ultimately, we can only hope the company's future plans take into account their most important asset - their loyal customers.

Trackback URL for this post: