Nibiqü, A Surface-Like Keyboard Cover For iPad

“Click!” You hear that? It’s the sound of an iPad turning into a Microsoft Surface, with the help of the Nibiqü keyboard cover.

Now that we see it, it’s obvious that this product was completely inevitable. And almost equally inevitable is the fact that it comes by way of Kickstarter.

What many have failed to see is that the Surface isn’t a tablet at all. It’s just a laptop with the computery parts in the top half along with the screen, instead of in the bottom half along with the keyboard. The fact that the keyboard and trackpad can be removed is a detail of implementation, not design purpose. Microsoft still hasn’t realized that the laptop is dying.

And as a mere detail of implementation, it has taken just two people, Diego and Xavier, to make a version for the iPad. No, it doesn’t have a trackpad, but that’s because Apple actually bothered to design an OS optimized for fingers, not mice.

The Nibiqü itself is 3.5mm thick (0.14 inches) and weighs just 200 grams. It connects to the iPad’s dock connector so no batteries are required, and should you need to charge the iPad while the cover is attached, you can pop a magnetic adapter onto the power plug and just stick it to the side of the case.

Even the keys look pretty good, with some amount of travel to them.

Given all this neatness, the $150 buy-in seems pretty reasonable. Imagine that: All the promise of Microsoft’s keyboard cover, only without having to buy a poorly-disguised laptop. It even has a built-in kickstand!

Source: Kickstarter

Thanks: Diego!

Charlie Sorrel

Charlie Sorrel writes reviews and how-tos. Follow Charlie on Twitter at @mistercharlie, and at micro.blog on @mistercharlie