While retailers don’t get a piece of the action from apps, they will now get to sell new app-enhanced hardware. This is a brand new economic ecosystem creating jobs at the toy companies and at brick-and-mortar stores who will hire buyers, inventory and sales people to stock and sell these app-enhanced toys.

Nukotoys is perhaps the poster child for this new Apple-generated toy economy. Nukotoys is a new company led by former high-level executives from Silicon Valley and the toy, gaming and trading card businesses, who have created a rich conductive touch-card iPad ecosystem.

You buy packs of Pokémon-like trading cards. Touch the information-packed card to the iPad/iPhone/iPad screen running the appropriate app (the first two are “Animal Planet Wildlife,” comprised of a 60-card set, and “Monsterology,” based on one of the popular Ology book series, which is a 100-card series) and that card character comes alive — and can be manipulated via touch — on screen.

In the “Animal Planet” game, you can populate an entire savannah, have lions hunt gazelles as a game while learning about how nature works. It’s sophisticated, immersive, compelling, cool — and completely new.

“As today’s three-year-olds tap around iPads with ease, Apple is powering a revolution in the $21 billion toy industry,” confirmsRodger Raderman, co-CEO of Nukotoys. “Because of Apple’s innovation, we have nearly 100 people actively working on making our vision a reality.”