



In a bold move designed to offset competition from Amazon , retailer Toys "R" Us is planning to release its own $149.99 Android-based tablet this holiday season.

Tabeo, as its known, will hit stores on Oct. 21, but will begin shipping Oct. 1. The Wayne, N.J.-based retailer started taking pre-orders for the item on its website Monday morning. The 7-inch tablet, created by Chouette Publishing, allows "full Internet experience with Flash support" according to TRU. It also boasts 4 GB of storage, expandable via a SDHC slot to 32 GB. The kid-centered tablet will also come preloaded with more than 50 books, games and educational apps including Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, AlphaTots and Putt Putt Zoo.

With Tabeo, Toys "R" Us hopes to offer parents a special reason to come to its stores this holiday season as kids at younger ages crave tablet devices. "It is our strategic position to offer products that you can't find anywhere [else] or be compared on price," Troy Peterson, a vice president at Toys "R" Us, told The Wall Street Journal. Tabeo would also in theory at least guard against showrooming, the practice of visiting a retail store to scope out items to buy online from other retailers, like Amazon.

TRU's gambit does include some risk, though. Vendor partners who already sell tablet devices on TRU's shelves may be peeved by the retailer's entry into its business. Indeed Kurio 7, Meep and Lexibook have already cut their prices to match Tabeo, The WSJ reports. Meanwhile, Tabeo isn't much cheaper than Amazon's Kindle Fire, which just dropped to $159. The track record for retailers competing with Amazon via their own devices is also discouraging. Barnes & Noble's Nook, the most prominent example, has experienced flat sales of late, though it has helped the retailer prop up revenues for digital content.