Quirky has just announced the community-developed Cloak iPad case available for presale orders.
Cloak is a sleek, sturdy case for the Apple iPad with a modern design resembling an office folder. It’s made of non-slip rubber, and features a hinged protective plastic cover. The case also doubles as a stand for the iPad that works in both portrait and landscape orientations.
The iPad slides into the case through a top opening and is held in place by a sturdy friction grip. You can fold the Cloak’s front cover behind the iPad, and use the plastic support brace located on the product’s inside cover to prop up the iPad screen vertically/portraid mode.
Or for a landscape position, open Cloak’s front cover and use it to prop up the iPad’s screen from behind. Depending on your viewing preference, the cover can click into different angles by pressing a button on the hinge.
You might remember other successful Quirky products including the Split Stick, a double-sided USB drive; the DigiDude, a portable camera tripod and keychain; the Scratch-n-Scroll, a mousepad with a writing surface; and the PowerCurl , a cord wrap for Apple’s MagSafe power adapter. Quirky engages participants to collaborate in every aspect of product creation — from ideation, design, naming, manufacturing, marketing, right on through to sales.
Anyone can participate on Quirky.com either by submitting their own product idea for $99, or by voting, rating, and influencing other people’s product ideas. Cooler still, 30¢ of every dollar generated from the sale of a Quirky product goes back to these influencers. Every week, users post ideas on Quirky to be rated by the Quirky community. The community surveys the submissions during a seven-day evaluation period and selects one product to move forward into product development. Quirky’s community then begins weighing in on everything from naming to logo selection to packaging through to prototype.
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The final product becomes available for pre-sale in the Quirky online store (quirky.com/products). Once the product hits its pre-sale threshold, credit cards are charged, and the product goes into production and delivery. At this point, 30¢ of every dollar made from the sale of these products goes back to the community. “Community” in this case covers both the ideator as well as all people who voted, commented, and rated the project idea along the way.
Having said that, you can probably surmise that the Cloak doesn’t actually exist yet, and in fact may change somewhat by the time the first production models roll off the line. In exchange for their early commitment, presale buyers get a discounted price ($36 instead of the $42 that it will cost eventually), and free shipping. Also noteworthy, the iPad goes on sale beginning April 3rd.
Published on March 11, 2010
