Print

Mail

wiki links

Accessory makers ready for the iPhone

This undated photo provided by Case-Mate Inc shows a case for the iPhone. The iPhone is scheduled to hit US stores today. PHOTO: AP

Apple Inc's iPhone will not hit US stores until today, but the heavily hyped gadget has already unleashed a cottage industry of touch-screen protectors, leather hip carriers and car adapters.

Even the most enthusiastic manufacturers said creating formfitting iPhone accessories was an enormous challenge. A notoriously tightlipped Apple kept many partners in the dark on precise specifications, and some of the company's most trusted accessory manufacturers still have not touched a genuine iPhone.

To compensate, many cribbed size and weight specifications from Apple's Web site, then created models out of wood, cardboard or plastic. They shipped models to Apple for advice on whether headset and other outlets were placed correctly. They adjusted and resent revised versions to Apple.

Many made educated guesses about curved moldings or the location of the proximity sensor, which turns off the touch screen when near the user's face. A 1mm error could result in headsets that come unplugged or an uncomfortably hot screen.

"The engineering aspects were a huge challenge,'' said Marware Inc. sales manager Sean Savitt.

Hollywood, Florida-based Marware, which sells iPod accessories in Apple stores and on Apple.com, assigned an industrial engineer to build a molded-plastic custom prototype that weighed precisely as much as a real iPhone. Marware sent the model to Apple for comments -- but it is unclear how many of the roughly 300 Apple accessory makers had similar access.

"There are a lot of manufacturers' cases that are going to have some fundamental mistakes that will only be revealed after launch," Savitt said. "There was a great deal of information to process and a great deal of guesswork."

Cupertino-based Apple did not respond to requests for comment.

The company recently sent some partners a memo urging them not to talk to journalists or rivals about marketing strategies -- including whether their accessories would be on sale alongside iPhones. Partners are not supposed to issue news releases or advertisements until after the launch.

After Apple chief executive Steve Jobs announced the iPhone in early January, several partners said that Apple cut off access to its designers Web site. Apple may have been making last-minute tweaks -- a common practice in the electronics industry, where products have short life cycles.

"At one point they weren't going to make the specs available to any vendor until the launch. We all just gasped," said Carrie Scharbo, co-founder and vice president of Cumming, Georgia-based Case-Mate Inc.

Case-Mate, which began manufacturing cases at its factory in China after receiving final specs from AT&T on May 22, plans to sell a patent-pending, impact-resistant iPhone shell with an injection-molded inner sheath.

"To build a sleek and slim design without all the specs is challenging, but that's our schtick," Scharbo said. "The nerve-wracking thing about this one was that everything was so hush-hush. We felt fortunate that we could partner with AT&T."

EBay Inc listed roughly 1,700 iPhone accessories on Wednesday, from belt clips to whimsical T-shirts proclaiming "I (heart) my [picture of iPhone]," many of them from obscure makers.
This story has been viewed 1204 times.