Little Tikes is in the process of launching their iTikes series of toys for pre-school aged children, which enhance traditional toys with digital interaction via Apple product integration.    According to a recent press release about the products:

Little Tikes® extends their classic brand of toy play into a revolutionary level of learning with the launch of iTikes™, a dynamic line of pre-school toys that can be enhanced through the advanced technology of Apple mobile digital devices. Designed to be enjoyed on their own and with extended capability through exclusively designed free iTikes™ Apps, iTikes™inspires the love of learning and creates a world of discovery using smart technology and rich, engaging content.

This is a great example of Thinking Beyond the Glass, in an effort to increase customer engagement and bridge the physical and digital divide.   Unfortunately, as these products began rolling out to stores, the challenges associate with launching a mobile application, and the need to coordinate that launch across the supply chain became apparent.

My father-in-law, always keen to engage my daughter with interesting and educational content, recently purchased the iTikes Canvas at a local Walmart.   Wanting to make sure she was able to immediately enjoy her new toy, he attempted to pre-load the application, only to find out that it has not yet been released to the iTunes store.    A call to the customer service number resulted in an interesting exchange, where after being put on hold for several minutes, he was redirected to a manager who explained that the toy was not supposed to be on-sale yet, as they were holding the launch for the release of the application.

While kudos to Little Tikes are deserved for keeping their call center informed, a little investigation has suggested this might not be an isolated problem.   While Walmart does list the product as unavailable via their online store, other retailers, including Toys R Us, are currently listing the product as available both in stores and online .

The application was likely targeted to be launched concurrently with retail shipments of the physical device, but it would seem that either development delays, or Apple certification taking longer than anticipated, put these two items out of sync.   Unfortunately, when combining the physical with the digital like this, the need to coordinate an application launch extends beyond the enterprise to include retailer partners, and as evidenced, that is not always as easy to control.

To avoid delays in certification impacting your launch, we (along with Apple) recommend clients submit their app to Apple with an Availability Date later than the potential approval window, and then coordinate all marketing and product release activities around that future date.   While this may slightly delay your launch timeline, it ensures consistent timing and will protect your positive customer experience.