Pointless Product Alert: $25 Stylus for iPhone

Leander Kahney ()

Images Img Iphone

In the rush to create high-markup accessories for the iPhone, one company is hawking the Pogo Stylus: a pointing device for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch — two products expressly designed to be used without a stylus.

Is there really a market for this? I imagine the pudgy fingered might take a look, as might people who have become accustomed to poking around their smartphone with a little pen. But the whole point of Apple’s multitouch is doing away with pointing devices. But the market for iPod accessories is worth more than $1 billion annually, so companies are taking a throw-it-out-and-fingers-crossed approach.

Available now from the company’s website for $25.

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18 comments »

About the author

Leander Kahney

is the editor and publisher of Cult of Mac, and author of three books about technology culture: Inside Steve’s Brain, the New York Times bestseller about Steve Jobs; Cult of Mac; and Cult of iPod. Leander has written for Wired, MacWeek, Scientific American, and The Guardian in London. Follow Leander on Twitter @lkahney and Facebook.

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Posted in Hardware, iPhone, iPod |

  • Jason Smith

    Well, for those of us who don’t live in sunny San Francisco, it would be handy to not have to take our gloves off to work the phone during the winter months. That’s one problem with “Designed in California” stuff.

  • winter

    This might not be such a bad idea when it’s 0 degrees outside and you don’t want to take your gloves off to operate your iPhone/iPod touch.

  • http://www.missionalheart,typepad.com Erick Bauman

    This is great… I know everyone thinks Jobs and the Apple crew thought of everything, but they didn’t think of us Northerners in NYC and other respectable northern cities that have freezing weather and have to wear gloves. Gloves render the amazing iPhone useless from making calls, sending texts or even sliding the “open” bar to do anything in the phone.

    Great idea just in the nick-of-time for the iPhone’s first winter season.

  • Patty

    The problem with the iphone is that it has to be used with a BARE finger, which even in the era of global warming is a pain in the winter in Chicago! I do hate having to take a glove off every time I use the phone. So although seemingly useless, I’d love one of these in my stocking!

  • http://cypy.ath.cx Xander

    Wait a second… I thought the iPhone/iPod touchscreen ONLY registers finger touches. Do you think the stylus even works???

  • http://ThunkDifferent.com Thunk Different.

    What’s so cool is you get to give them your money and then you get something that could be worth $25!

  • YodaMac

    I’m in Colorado, and so we enjoy 300+ days of sunshine every year (!), but I would think you Northerners would rather simply have GLOVES made with this stylus’s “secret sauce”, so you could just still use your fingers and not need a stylus at all…

  • Jason Smith

    Marmot made (makes?) some gloves that are supposed to be iPod compatible, but I don’t know if that means iPhone/iPod Touch compatible.

    I tried using my nose to unlock my phone this morning, but my aim was off.

  • http://newtonpoetry.wordpress.com iDave

    Bah – just try using a Newton stylus. When I do get my iPhone, I’m going to give it a try.

  • Thomas

    I’d opt for iPhone compatible gloves over a stylus anyday. But, living in California, I guess I’ll never worry about that.

    Designed in California, with me in mind :)

    Cheers

  • Eliakim

    A stylus a ripoff, and especially for that price!! Jobs said the iPhone was designed precisely to avoid this (i.e., a stylus) and some company decides to ripoff the public for exactly what the iPhone was designed to avoid. LOL!!

  • John Wood

    wet the end of a “Q” tip,
    with the end of your finger
    JUST touching the base of the
    wet Q tip, the tip will
    activate iPhone functions.
    Gives BIG fingers help.

  • Roberto

    Just don’t put your lips on it.

  • Mike

    Has anyone been able to use ANY cell phone with gloves/mittens on? I live in Ontario, Canada and I can’t remember ever being able to dial a phone with mits on. So to blame Apple for not making a device so you can use it in the cold weather without taking off your gloves seems a little unfair.

    That being said… I still don’t think I’ll use a stylus.

  • response to iDave

    iDave, that will not work – the screen is not pressure sensitive but touch sensitive – it requires certain galvanic skin response, not the simple pressure of a stylus.

  • DJ Rizzo

    Reminded me of one of my favorite Simpsons moments:
    “The fingers you have used to dial are too fat. To obtain a special dialing wand, please mash the keypad with your palm now.”

  • rh

    Actually, there is a market, albeit small. I was at a conference and met someone who had hands that were damaged and she could not get my iPhone to recognize her hands. A stylus would be perfect for her, as she could hold it and use the product.

  • Larry Cromwell

    Too bad none of you has heard of Dial-It ( patent pending). I’ve developed a glove stylus that actually works. I haven’t gone into production yet, but I expect to bring it to market by this winter so that people can dial their cell phones, Blackberries, etc. without taking off their gloves. All I need is some forward looking investor to license my product and we’ll all be dialing without frostbite. Check out Dial-It on the net.