The iPad Boom Begins: Accessory Makers Rush to Market

On January 27, CEO Tim Hickman and the employees of his accessory startup Hard Candy Cases (http://www.hardcandycases.com) in Danville, CA, gathered around a computer in the conference room, watching as Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad. "We were continuing our design session in real time and refining the design as much as possible. Our goal was to start the tooling process within 48 hours of the announcement," says Hickman. In no time, Hard Candy Cases had images of a new iPad case up on their blog.

The actual unveiling of a new Apple product isn't necessarily the starting point for accessory makers. The design team at Hard Candy Cases was already brainstorming case designs and talking to their factories in China weeks before the official iPad launch. Brian Packer, director of marketing with Salt Lake City-based accessory maker ZAGG (http://www.zagg.com), has had an Apple tablet on the mind for a long time. "We've been thinking about it for almost two years, because the rumors have been around that long. We were looking at all the early rumors, including the early patent documents," says Packer.

The iPad offers some extra challenges for accessory businesses used to working with smaller devices. "The size difference between this and an iPod is significant from design, engineering, and cost perspectives. Some of the typical silicon skins you might slap on an iPhone probably aren't going to hold their shape on something as big as the iPad," says Hickman. Hard Candy Cases has a leg up on this challenge with its experience creating cases for MacBooks and netbooks.

Over at ZAGG, the main accessory products they plan to offer for the iPad include the invisibleSHIELD screen protector and colorful protective skins that will customize the look of the tablet. "We can get our first fingers on a product and have it ready to market within 24 hours as far as our invisibleSHIELD product goes. With something as hot as this, we move very, very fast," says Packer. The screen protectors are already available for pre-order on the ZAGG site.

Moving quickly on designing products, creating retail packaging and cranking out items on the production line is only part of the battle. "The challenge is getting the shelf space," says Hickman. He anticipates that retailers will be making early decisions on which iPad accessories to carry over the next few weeks. He sees the iPad launch as an opportunity for his startup to expand their reach. "Something like the iPad can be a real door opener for new accounts. Retailers are willing to expand their scope of what they will consider for shelf space," he says. All this hinges on moving quickly and getting quality products out fast.

There's a lot at stake over the iPad extras market. Research group ABI Research estimates that 4 million media tablets will be sold in 2010, ramping up to 57 million by 2015. "This year alone, the accessories business for the iPad will be many hundreds of millions of dollars," says Packer. ZAGG is already planning to position some of its existing accessories, such as the ZAGGbox media center and ZAGGsmartbuds earphones for the iPad, as the company works to get the custom-fit products to market.

Hickman anticipates the first Hard Candy iPad cases to roll off the production line in early March. "We're so giddy about this whole opportunity to get our fair share of the gold rush," he says.

Large and small companies alike are already full on into the iPad accessory rush. The big early winners will be the businesses that get their products in front of the buyers as soon as they're picking up their new iPads.