Tablets were a hot gift this holiday season, and may be diverting funds that otherwise would be spent on toys, according to the New York Post.  The toy biz is set to post a 3-4% decline in 2012, the worst year-over-year change in 30 years, according to a BMO Securities analyst interviewed by the Post.  This is believable given early reports that tracked fewer container-loads of toys coming into the country before the holidays (see "Toy Imports Down 13%"). 

Tablets are being given as gifts to kids as young as three years old and toy executives are "terrified" of the trend, according to UPI.  An analyst from Needham & Company described the situation.  "The top two guys, Mattel and Hasbro, they are terrified," he said.  "They should be terrified, but the official party line is they’re not terrified."