Urbano Delvalle for TIME Digital
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THE BIT GIRL
COMPANY Mattel, Doll
NET WORTH $1.9 billion (1998 sales)
AGE 40
ADDRESS www.mattel.com
BIO Barbie isn't getting any younger, yet this retro icon of Little Miss Proper has
become the hippest gal in the Digital Age. Lara Croft may know how to go on a
rampage, but Bar-bie is snowboarding in the new Super Sports CD-ROM and sleuthing
at a carnival in another CD-ROM, Barbie Detective. Now she's branching out even
more in Barbie's Ocean Discovery, her first Game Boy title, and with two hardware
devices: a $599 computer with pink and silver accents and a low-cost printer from
Hewlett-Packard.
Barbie's success has taken the girls' market by storm, spawning an array of toys,
from electronic diaries made by Girl Talk to the new Um Jammer Lammy girl-rock
title for the Sony PlayStation. So even if you hate Barbie's prissy looks,
there's plenty to love about making a place for girls in the next millennium.
BEST LINE "You're so good at using a computer!"
FORWARD TILT The first Barbie PlayStation title, a competitive,
equestrian-themed game called Barbie Race and Ride, comes out this fall. Two new
CD-ROMs, including Generation Girl Gotta Groove, which lets girls choreograph
their own dance sequence, will be out for the holiday.
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