It was the top-selling toy in the US for the years 2001-2002 and books and accessories for the device were the best selling toy in the US in 2003. The LeapPad launched in 1999 and became Leapfrog's flagship product. Explore Technologies' stylus technology was later used in LeapFrog's LeapPad, a learning tablet that sounds out words when users drag a stylus across a word in LeapPad books. Explore Technologies produced the Odyssey Globe, an interactive globe that could call out the names of countries when users touched the globe with a specially designed stylus.
LeapFrog acquired Explore Technologies in August 1998. Kalinske, a former executive at Mattel, became LeapFrog chief executive officer as a result of the merger. LeapFrog subsequently merged with Knowledge Universe's Knowledge Kids division. Knowledge Universe is an education company founded by brothers Lowell Milken and Michael Milken, Larry Ellison, and Tom Kalinske. Knowledge Universe acquired a majority stake in LeapFrog in October 1997. In March of that year, the company hired Brad Crawford, who formerly worked for Little Tikes, to oversee sales and manufacturing. LeapFrog had distribution in over 10 countries and a number of major clients in the US by early 1997. Expansion and acquisition by Knowledge Universe: 1998-2002 Other retailers such as FAO Schwarz, Walmart and Target later began carrying the toy.
Toys "R" Us became the first major retailer to carry the Phonics Desk shortly before Christmas 1995. The company received $800,000 in seed funding from friends, family, and former clients of Wood. That year, Wood resigned as a partner at Cooley LLP and founded LeapFrog Enterprises with Robert Lally. Wood began manufacturing the Phonics Desk in 1995. Wood solicited feedback on his prototype from Robert Calfee, an expert on children's reading development and a professor of education at the Stanford Graduate School of Education. The prototype utilized a Texas Instruments chip that was previously used by one of Wood's clients to develop talking greeting cards. By 1994, Wood had developed the first prototype of what would become Phonics Desk, LeapFrog's first product. He began researching phonics and marketing while continuing as a partner at Cooley.
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The history of LeapFrog traces back to the late 1980s when LeapFrog co-founder Michael Wood, an attorney at Cooley LLP, had difficulties teaching his son how to read.
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