There are more cell phones in use today than there are toothbrushes. We certainly live in a crazy world. One of the not so crazy things to have happened though, is the supplementary boom in demand for these cases. Indeed, today, you can get hard cases, soft cases, bunny cases, wallet cases and even personalized cellular cases.
And while it’s plain for all to see where this burgeoning demand comes from, it’s still astounding to observe such a large sector of products unfold. For as long as cellular phones have existed, there has always been a market for cell phone cases, yet with the new range of touch devices taking over consumers pocket space, there’s an added dimension of variation necessary for success.
Well beyond the differentiation available with the devices they intend to cover, there is a massive variety amongst the different cell phone cases available on the market today. In Nokia’s days as king of the market there were essentially two different types of custom cases: soft rubber cases and hard cases that often came with a hook that would attach to the side of presumably, a building contractor’s belt.
With the onset of smarter cell phones, there appears to have been an industry wide dedication to devising smarter cell phone cases as well. As the devices have gotten thinner and more sophisticated (the iPhone 4 is said to have better computing power than Apollo 13) one could forgive producers of cell phone cases if they’d simply decided to make bigger, stronger covers.
Instead there appears to be two main factors that define the demand for cellular phone cases.
Function
Quite obviously, the most pertinent functional requirement for an accessory product, is the protection of the host product. By and large, that appears to be a feature of just about all the available custom phone cases that aren’t simply stickers and skins. However, the level of protection each type offers does seem to be a point of differentiation.
For the average cellular phone user there are the standard levels of protection that will insure the device against bumps, scratches and perhaps a two foot drop on a carpeted floor. But for the more adventurous users there are the uber protective cell phone cases that add a few inches to the device and appear to be ready to be hit by a series of anti-aircraft missiles.
Style
Considering there isn’t a great deal of visual differentiation beyond general size and shape amongst smart phones, the cases appear to have picked up the baton to offer users an element of stylization. While some of the more impractical options come with bunny ears, wings and hyper realistic depictions of sushi on the back of them, there are some more straightforward options.
In particular, the cellular phone cases that can be ordered to include images selected personally by the customer catch the eye. Not only does the customer get to be creatively involved in the final product, but the basic model provides for the same amount of protection that other cases do.