Kano will start selling its Harry Potter coding wand in Apple stores

This
wireless Harry Potter wand will help kids learn how to
code.
Kano

• Computing and coding startup Kano is going to release
  its ‘Harry Potter’ coding wand in hundreds of Apple
  stores.
• CEO and founder Alex Klein told Business Insider that
  Apple approached Kano to get the wands into stores.
• From December to January people will be able to demo
  the wand in stores.

British coding and computing startup Kano has struck a
partnership with Apple to sell its “Harry Potter”-themed coding
wand in more than 300 Apple stores across the US, UK, Australia,
and New Zealand in December.

The coding wand is a physical device that works in tandem with
Kano’s app. The app allows kids to build blocks of code which are
then translated into “Harry Potter” spells when they wave the
wand. They can go through step-by-step challenges or simply
experiment to see what effect tinkering with the code can have on
the spells.

Kano CEO and founder Alex Klein told Business Insider that Apple
approached Kano about the partnership. “We’ve known the folks at
Apple for a while in different parts of the organisation but in
this instance the opportunity was to bring in the wand,
especially because it’s designed ground-up to work with iOS and
with tablets,” he said. The Kano wand also works with Windows and
Android.

Read more:

A British tech startup made an official Harry Potter wand to
teach kids how to code

Among the host of spells available to them, kids can make
feathers fly, potions bubble, and pygmy puffs change colour.

You can watch James and Oliver Phelps, who play the characters
Fred and George Weasley in the “Harry Potter” films, learning to
use the wand here:

Klein said his favourite spell at at the moment is “Musicalis,”
which allows users to play with the pitch of a musical note by
turning their wand.

From December through to the end of January people will also be
able to go and demo the wands in the Apple stores. “People will
be able to see the wand at work, give it a wave, drag a code
block, change the colour of a spell… all of that will be a
direct, in-person and explained wizarding experience,” said
Klein.

Klein says he likes the link between the wizarding world and
coding because he feels the wand has the ability to unlock the
secrets of how technology actually works.

“Technology which has been delivered to us in these beautiful
temples that can solve so many problems but so few of us know how
it works, has the ability to create a sort of contemporary magic
if you can understand it, and if you can change it and manipulate
it,” he said.

The wand costs $99.99 in the US and £99.99 in the UK.