A smartphone case that survives an active teenager’s lifestyle and a curious toddler’s whims? Boulder mom Elizabeth Dining knew she was on to something. But how else could she make her case stand out among a sea of competitors that include Apple? She asked her teen daughter for help.
“I bring the younger side to it,” said Erin, a sophomore at Boulder High School with a knack for abstract art. The 15-year-old’s whimsical designs decorate their new company’s shock-absorbing silicone cases with extra corner protection.
Now comes the hard part.
The company, Cradl, joins hundreds of other mobile-accessory makers Tuesday as the Consumer Electronics Show opens in Las Vegas. That includes many from Colorado, including about a dozen startups and the big brands of OtterBox and Case Logic. It’s a crowded, highly competitive market where companies with a great idea often are copied and products are commoditized. Remember Agloves? The Boulder company behind 2010’s touchscreen-glove sensation shut down last year, surrounded by cheap knockoffs.
But many Colorado startups are motivated by the notion that everyone carries a phone and surely other people have faced the same problem.
“I was tired of my headset tangling every time I pulled it out of my pocket,” said David Barnett, a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado. “So I went to Jo-Ann Fabrics and stuck a big button on the back of my phone to tie my headset on the back. I went around for two months with these massive black, shiny buttons. I looked ridiculous, but it worked.”
Several tweaks and prototypes later, PopSockets was born in 2012 with buttons that pop out like an accordion and look like the cone of a loudspeaker. Use them to wrap a cord, prop up a phone or hold like a handle to better grip a phone, which is how most people are using it.
“It’s easy to have the illusion that everyone has a smartphone now and I just need to make a case and sell it,” he said. “Our biggest advantage is we don’t compete with cases. We’re compatible with cases.”
Barnett employs four people full-time.
This week, he is expected to learn whether he has been fired by CU for allegedly retaliating against a female graduate student who reported being sexually assaulted by a fellow student. He denies the accusations and is seeking $2 million for defamation.
Representing Colorado at CES this year are no fewer than six mobile-case makers, three tablet mounts and two cord-management systems. And this doesn’t include companies such as Nite Ize in Boulder or Hoffco Brands in Wheat Ridge, which sell a variety of mobile accessories, including cases, tablet stands and cord managers.
“My God, there is so much competition,” said Ben Arnold, who tracks the mobile-accessory market for The NPD Group, a market researcher. “I’ve got 266 brands (that NPD tracks), and that doesn’t include everyone in the ‘all others’ category.”
Nor does it include startups that don’t sell at major retailers.
Arnold says the mobile-accessories market is very strong, thanks to the continued growth in smartphones. In the past year, mobile-accessory sales at U.S. retailers topped $2.5 billion, up 10 percent in a year.
“That’s a good growth number, and I can definitely make a case that the number accelerates in 2015 due to the fact there are more flexible contracts and device upgrades are more prevalent,” Arnold said.
He points to larger screens, such as Apple’s iPhone 6 plus, which is 5.5 inches. Also, he notes the move in the mobile industry to make it easier for consumers to switch service providers without fear of excessive termination fees. People are getting new smartphones more frequently — and that means new accessories to fit those phones.
“That certainly has helped accessories,” Arnold said. “The market is still moving along because it’s tied to the short life cycle of the mobile market.”
Consumers have come to rely on their smartphones for photos, Global Positioning System navigation and social networking, which has fueled demand for protective cases, extra battery power, car mounts and other accessories. Accessories tend to be an easier market to get into because electronics are rarely involved.
“I’m always surprised by the competition and number of companies competing in that space,” said Jeff Joseph, the Consumer Electronics Association’s senior vice president of communications and strategic relations. “But I’d say it’s one of the good things about consumer technology. You can offer lots of choices. What appeals to you might not appeal to your neighbor. Colors, price points, sound levels — you need to provide the consumer with lots of choices.”
While it’s easy to come up with an idea, many local creators admit that they knew little about developing products and had no connections to the industry, let alone manufacturing expertise, retail sales experience or outside financing.
“I knew nothing about any of this,” said Cradl’s Dining, who had run an insurance company for two decades before selling it in 2011 to become a stay-at-home mom.
“I have to say that I had a lot of confidence going into this,” she said. “I thought, ‘Wow, this is great. I know how to run a business.’ But people would say to me, ‘This is different. You’re trying to bring something to market.’ It’s unbelievably challenging. It was really by the seat of our pants that we just kept going.”
But one thing Colorado inventors seem to have is the excitement around entrepreneurship and the support found within the community.
Across the hall from PopSockets is Rodwin Architecture. Owner Scott Rodwin designed a circular cord-management system called The Loop after also having one too many tangled headset experiences. Coincidence?
“It gets even weirder,” Rodwin said. “We met at CES last year because (Barnett) had a product similar to ours. Two months later, this company moves in across the hall. I didn’t even know he was from Boulder!”
There’s even a local Meetup group called Physical Product CEO, which was created to help companies that make products share resources, tips and ideas.
The mobile-accessory market also may be tied to why people choose to move or stay in Colorado.
Case Logic, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in October, started when founder Jamie Temple got tired of his cassette tapes sliding around the back seat of his car during drives to go skiing.
“The history of Case Logic is so woven with mobile lifestyle,” marketing director Jeff Warde said. “And now, more than ever, people live and work on the go. We’re not sitting in offices all day. We’re constantly going, and we expect our technology to be always on and always with us.”
The Niwot company, which was acquired by Sweden’s Thule Group in 2007, moved from cassettes to CDs. Now, it offers a whole line of camera bags, tablet cases and smartphone cases.
“The separation of technology is no longer there,” Warde said. “The active lifestyle that Coloradans live, whether it’s skiing or hiking, they bring their technology along as well.”
Tamara Chuang: 303-954-1209, tchuang@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Gadgetress
About the show
The Consumer Electronics Show is an annual tech festival in Las Vegas that attracts more than 160,000 attendees and about 3,500 exhibitors, all looking to see the latest breakthroughs in consumer technology and the hottest gadgets. The 2015 CES starts Tuesday.
The first CES was held in 1967, with attendance of only around 17,500 people. The VCR was first released at the show in 1970, the CD player in 1981, the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, high-definition television in 1998, satellite radio in 2000 and Blu-Ray DVDs in 2003.
