This was published 12 years ago
Plugging a gap in the Apple ecosystem: app-free Aussies cash in
By Asher Moses
- iCatchi headphone jack plugs a branding phenomenon
- Aussie creates iPad wall mount and music empire
- Toffee cases go global after living room start
Australian entrepreneurs are developing killer apps for the iPad and iPhone that have nothing to do with the App Store.
There have been many examples of Australian software developers striking it rich after creating innovative mobile applications but this is just one half of the Apple ecosystem.
A $20-$30m business? ... The iCatchi mobile phone plugs.
The runaway success of the iPhone and iPad has allowed a number of Australian accessory makers to flourish and bring their quirky inventions to a global market.
Low-tech solution to a high-tech problem
The Pix and Stix products for the iPad.
Chris Land from Melbourne, for instance, believes he is well on his way to creating a $20-$30 million business out of a deceptively simple idea. He has a worldwide patent on plugs - which he's dubbed iCatchi - which slot into empty headphone jacks on mobile phones.
But while the initial idea was to solve the problem of dust and moisture getting into the slots and damaging phones, the key to its money-making potential is the branding opportunities it offers.
Instead of giving out USB sticks, pens and water bottles, Land, 40, is telling brands to hand out iCatchi plugs with their logos on it. Punters are also able to buy iCatchi plugs for about $6 each from the company's website to personalise their handsets with their favourite sport team's colours or with generic images like smiley faces.
"There are 300 million new smartphones coming into the market every year and my product is compatible with 90 per cent of those phones, not to mention that there's currently conservatively about a billion phones in the market today that are still compatible with this product," said Land.
The Wallee product, which allows the iPad to be mounted on a wall.
"If I can get one or two per cent of a billion phones then it's a $20 or $30 million business."
Land said he had sold 500 iCatchi plugs to McDonald's with the fast food giant's logo printed on the top. These are being handed out to store staff and the company is also considering providing them to customers.
Alon Tamir, creator of Wallee, with some of his company's products.
Another 500 were sold to the construction firm Hickory, which provides them to contractors who visit construction sites. The plugs help keep dust out of contractors' phones and promote the Hickory logo.
Land said he was also in talks with a large telco and a real-estate company, while there was a steady stream of orders on his online store coming from countries such as Czech Republic, the US and Canada.
One of Toffee's leather Macbook cases.
"Ferrari allowed us to hand out some promotional plugs at a launch before the Grand Prix and we had displays in one of the dealerships down here in Melbourne where they were handed out to the Ferrari clients that came through," he said.
Land said he had a meeting with Apple in Singapore to see if he could range the iCatchi products in its stores but the company wasn't interested.
"I don't know that they want to actually promote that you can have these warranty issues with their products if moisture or water gets into the headphone jack - that's almost accepting that some of their products are not fit for sale in some countries," he said.
Alon's growing iPad empire
Alon Tamir, 30, also in Melbourne, is approaching the first anniversary of his Wallee product - a case that allows the iPad and iPad 2 to be mounted on a wall. He sells these for $39.95 along with his own carry cases and stands that are similar to those found on desktop iMacs.
Tamir said he was selling thousands of the wall mount cases to people who use their iPad to control their sound systems, people using them as digital displays for photos and promotions and those who use their iPad as a second computer monitor to display their Twitter feeds and other social networking content.
"We've learned much more from the people who are buying it than what we knew when we set out to create it - some people are using it for special needs kids and mounting it to their wheelchairs, giving them a new way to communicate," he said.
Tamir is a one-man-band and has just launched his second line of products, dubbed Pix and Stix.
These are simply rubberised guitar picks and drum sticks that allow for a much more natural music making experience in Garage Band on the iPad. Two sticks and a pick sell for $14.95 at Tamir's online store.
"I've got another four products that are currently being designed for launch over the next few months," said Tamir.
Tamir said he would soon have to hire staff as he has received significant overseas interest and is setting up deals with warehousing companies in the US and Europe.
Toffee's hard slog pays off
Sydneysider Hassan Issa, 36, and his partner Natasha Sullivan, created their brand of quality leather cases for Apple products, dubbed Toffee, in 2005. They started out with one sample of an iBook case Issa had made in India but have since developed global distribution channels and now make cases for iPads, iPhones and MacBooks.
The iPad cases sell for around $80, while the iPhone cases go for about $40 and the Macbook cases sell for $150-$300.
"We used to work from our house - we had the bed on one side and stock on the other side," said Issa.
"I used to finish work and then pack orders at night until weird hours in the morning."
Toffee's big break came when David Jones began stocking its range and the company now sells through Harvey Norman, Domayne, Apple stores in Australia and in Asia and in some stores in the US and Germany. In a few weeks the company is looking to line up a distribution deal in Britain.
Issa said he now employed about seven full-time staff in his office in Camperdown. He still uses the same Indian factory he started out with but designs all of the products in-house.
This reporter is on Twitter: @ashermoses