Brookstone Announces Hot Trends for Holiday 2010

Most Popular Gift Categories Include iPad™ Accessories, Flying Toys and 'Gifts Against Germs'

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Oct 28, 2010, 06:00 ET

MERRIMACK, N.H., Oct. 28 /PRNewswire/ -- The early results are in, and the gift experts at Brookstone today announced three hot buying trends in the developing 2010 Holiday season. The specialty retailer, which will have more than 450 stores open this Q4, is seeing a strong attraction to three key product categories among customers who shop Brookstone for unique gifts and new technology products.

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Gift Trend #1: Upgrading to Mobile Tech

"Demand for mobile technology gifts continues to grow rapidly—particularly for items that interact with the Apple iPad tablet," said Brookstone CEO Ron Boire. "We're seeing an acceleration in sales for protective cases, wireless keyboards, and speakers for this very popular device. What's interesting is the breadth of appeal that this product has. Moms and dads, students, professionals—everyone loves the iPad tablet. We're also seeing a surge in sales of mobile chargers for iPhone® devices and smartphones."

Leather Case with Bluetooth® Keyboard

This sleek leather portfolio case protects the iPad tablet and has a built-in Bluetooth® wireless keyboard for power-typing e-mails and blog posts. $79.95 (Available mid-fall 2010.)

iDesign® Power Speaker

The desktop system with the great big sound. Docks iPad, iPod and iPhone devices. Two full-range stereo speakers plus a subwoofer in an acoustically tuned cabinet.* $129.95 (Available 11/12/10.)

360 Degree Stand

This pivoting stand rotates, swivels and adjusts to hold the iPad tablet at any angle. It's perfect for viewing movies, web surfing, reading e-books—and anytime one wants to use the iPad tablet hands-free. $39.95

Gift Trend #2: Fly Me to Planet Wow

"More than ever, we believe that people are looking for toys with a high wow factor and that's good news for Brookstone," continued Boire. "Many of our store managers across the U.S. have said that people are coming into our stores looking for something new and exciting – an unexpected, one-of-a-kind toy – and they're finding it. We believe that our helicopters, including the Parrot AR.Drone quadricopter, will be very popular among all age groups."

Parrot AR.Drone Wi-Fi quadricopter

The Parrot AR.Drone is a one-of-a-kind quadricopter that features augmented reality and is piloted using an iPod touch®, an iPhone or an iPad device. The AR.Drone combines real and virtual worlds and offers consumers an exciting new flight and gaming experience. A front camera broadcasts what the AR.Drone is seeing onto the iPod touch, iPhone or iPad screen, offering an opportunity for enhanced reality games. $299.95

Cloud Force RC Helicopter with Gyroscope

"Every year, Brookstone helicopters get even easier to fly," said Boire. The Cloud Force is the newest member of the Brookstone flight team and features an on-board gyroscope for maximum stability and flight control. $49.95

Silver Bullet RC Helicopter

The most popular RC helicopter of the 2009 holiday season is now available at special pricing: $29.95 each or 2 for $50. Silver Bullet copters are easy to fly right out of the box and feature built-in LED lights for night missions.

Gift Trend #3: Don't Touch That—Gifts Against Germs

"Whether it's for themselves, their children or their co-workers, people are showing keen interest in living this cold-and-flu season as germ-free as possible," said Boire. "We're seeing a lot of activity for UV sanitizing lights, as well as for our CandyMan Motion-Activated Candy Dispenser, which helps people avoid sharing germs in office candy bowls."

CandyMan™ Motion-Activated Candy Dispenser

Whose hands have been in your candy bowl? Looks like a classic gumball machine, but is perfect for all sorts of unwrapped candies and treats. Automatically dispenses an adjustable portion when hand is placed under the motion sensor. Hands-free operation helps prevent spread of germs at home and at work. $39.95

Violight® UV Cell Phone Sanitizer

The life of a cell phone is a hard and dirty one. Lots of recurring hand-to-mouth contact, pants pockets, purses, kitchen counters, desks. The Violight® Cell Phone Sanitizer is a compact desktop holder for phones that uses UV light to kill up to 99% of certain surface bacteria**—without chemicals. Available online at Brookstone.com and at select Brookstone stores. $49.95

UV-C Sanitizing Wand

At work, in hotel rooms, even in restaurants—this cordless, portable wand kills up to 99.9% of certain bacteria on surfaces. $69.95**

About Brookstone

Brookstone, Inc., is an innovative product development company and specialty retailer of unique gifts. Brookstone operates 310 stores nationwide and in Puerto Rico, as well as 150 additional seasonal locations during the holidays. Typically located in high-traffic regional shopping malls and airports, the stores feature unique and innovative consumer products. The Company also operates a Direct Marketing business that includes the Brookstone catalog and an e-commerce Web site at Brookstone.com. Fans of the Company are encouraged to Like Brookstone on Facebook.

*iPhone/iPod/iPad devices not included. iPhone, iPod and iPod touch are trademarks of Apple Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. iPad is a trademark of Apple Inc. "Made for iPod," "Made for iPhone," and "Made for iPad" mean that an electronic accessory has been designed to connect specifically to iPod, iPhone, or iPad, respectively, and has been certified by the developer to meet Apple performance standards. Apple is not responsible for the operation of this device or its compliance with safety and regulatory standards. Please note that the use of this accessory with iPod, iPhone, or iPad may affect wireless performance.

**Streptococcus, e. coli, Salmonella, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Listeria monocytogenes