Disney AppMATes arriving Saturday, turning your iPad into a racetrack for toy cars

AllThingsD takes a look at an interesting line of upcoming toys from Disney which take advantage of Apple’s iPad in unusual ways. Writer Tricia Duryee explains that AppMATes, as they call those toys, interact with the iPad’s display:

In a live demonstration, Bart Decrem, general manager of Disney Mobile, showed me how it works. First, he placed a miniature car on the iPad’s screen to create a bond with the game — no Bluetooth or wires needed. As Decrem moved the toy car across the screen, the game reacted: Cars skidded out in the mud, knocked over buildings and honked their horns, startling tractor-shaped cows.

There are areas to explore, per-toy achievements to unlock, a bunch of upgrades and power-ups and what not. The idea is likely to appeal to six-year olds, especially if the popularity of Apple’s tablet amongst youngsters is anything to go by. AppMATes are arriving on store shelves October 1, including the Apple Store and Disney Store.

The game will be a free download and toys will cost twenty bucks a pop. Disney will initially sell four characters from their animated movie “Cars 2”: Lightning McQueen, Tow Mater, Finn McMissile and Holley Shiftwell. By the way, Disney, you may wanna consider changing the name – it sounds a lot like Playmates. Just a thought. Another video right after the break.

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Disney is reportedly working on a series of accessories that interact with Apple’s device. They won’t come cheap, though, but your kids are bound to be happy. That said, be on the lookout for the $50 “Cars” iPad case, the $80 Disney Pix Camera which lets kids take snaps and create iPad albums and either a wired ($80) or wireless ($100) microphone to sing karaoke to Disney tunes.

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