Although relatively few insiders have touched an iPad, accessory makers – the people that make the cases, skins and add-ons for iPhones and iPods – are chomping at the bit to start selling iPad products one Apple starts shipping in March. Why are the companies so anxious? In 2009, $3.7 billion worth of iPod and iPhone accessories were sold, according to one estimate. Makers of add-ons say the iPad could be an even more lucrative market.
“It’s going to be an incredibly important portion of our business,” Jamie Elgie, Belkin’s product manager for mobility, told BusinessWeek. Just how important can be seen in preparations for the iPad’s launch which are akin to children anxiously awaiting Christmas morning.
Griffin told the Wall Street Journal it began creating designs for the iPad just hours after the device’s January unveiling. Another company, GelaSkins, said it will have a sticker design for the iPad within hours of getting their hands on an iPad and start selling products online within a day.
Why the rush? First, while accessories were a multi billion dollar market for products selling for $15, imagine the market for iPad add-ons selling at $50? Next, keep in mind the accessory makers have profit margins between 70 percent and 90 percent and you have a clue why the near war-room excitement.
But accessory manufacturers may have a potent rival, even before an iPad materializes: Apple, itself. When the Cupertino, Calif. company unveiled the tablet device, it also introduced several accessories, including a case, a kit to import photos, a nd a dock let iPad owners charge their device or attach an external keyboard.
[Via AppleInsider and Wall Street Journal]
