Apple's iconic iPhone has been so popular since its arrival five years ago that it has spawned a booming device-accessory industry that includes all manner of protective cases.
This presents a huge challenge for new iPhone case makers. Any such debut products have to stand out in some way — aesthetically, technologically or both.
With more than 500 Apple-accessory makers hawking gear in the 120,000-square-foot iLounge Pavilion at next week's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, for instance, humdrum products risk being ignored.
Two Minnesota-based iPhone case creators do believe they've broken new ground in a big way.
Minneapolis-based Canopy is claiming a tech first with its Sensus case, which is touch-enabled on the back and along one of its longer edges. The CES-bound startup thinks its touch case will spur a new wave of video games, photo apps and more.
Waseca-based Twig Case Co., meanwhile, has created iPhone cases made of paper — or, to be more precise, a layered-paper composite called Richlite that feels like wood but is more durable. The cases are laser-engraved with intricate artwork.
Even with such innovation, Twig is steering clear of CES next week, as many small companies tend to do, with scant funds for a show-floor booth and the like.
“We are still too wee,” Twig co-founder Jon Lucca said.
Skipping CES is more calculated gamble than potential catastrophe for Twig, in any event, given that it has lately seen acclaim from rock-music stars, marquee bloggers and the like. Twig saw boffo holiday sales as a result, Lucca said.
SENSE SENSUS
Canopy's Sensus case is intended to remedy what some see as an iPhone shortcoming: With fingers on the device's touch screen, its visibility is impaired.
Some entrepreneurs have addressed this problem with iPhone cases that incorporate slide-out physical keyboards like the ones on BlackBerry devices. This preserves an unobstructed view of the iPhone display.
Canopy, instead, is taking its cues from Apple and other smartphone makers with a capacitive touch technology that is highly responsive and accurate.
The back of the Sensus case is one huge touchpad, in essence. So is one of the edges, which becomes a secondary device controller not unlike a videogame-controller “bumper” button.
Canopy's demo apps are intended to trigger a flurry of Sensus-friendly apps from third parties, but the company has yet to announce any such partnerships.
The Sensus case isn't quite ready to ship, either. Canopy thinks that will happen in the spring or summer, followed in the fall or winter by Sensus cases for Apple's iPad mini and iPod touch.
THE PAPER CASE
Twig Case Co. has its origins in guitar design, construction and repair.
Lucca's partner, John Woodland, has built acoustic guitars for the likes of Jeff Tweedy of Wilco fame. Certain of the guitars' parts, such as the bridge and fingerboard, are made of Richlite — the composite material composed of paper layers that are soaked in resin and then baked and pressed to form a rugged wood-like material.
It dawned on Woodland one day that Richlite could be used to manufacture iPhone cases. His childhood friend Lucca thought he was nuts — at first.
Now the two have built a company around the Richlite cases, which also incorporate bamboo in some instances. The cases are far less fragile than ones made entirely out of wood, Lucca said.
These have become renowned for laser-etched artwork by the likes of Lucca, who is a trained illustrator, artist Jim Woodring, and Mark Fraeunfelder, another illustrator.
A Wilco-branded Twig case is sold on the band's site; it is the only iPhone accessory available for purchase there.
Lucca said the privately held Twig has enjoyed decent sales almost from the start and had an insanely busy Christmas season extending into the new year as those who got iPhones as gifts now purchase cases for them.
Lucca is now working on an iPad case but is unhappy with his prototypes.
“We're perfectionists,” he said. “We're easily the worst critics of our own products.”
Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
Photo Credit: Canopy and Twig Case Co.
(c)2013 the Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)
