A promising prototype stand called the Plinth fits in a pocket but quickly deploys to support a large tablet, a smartphone or even an old-fashioned book.
Developed by U.K. product designer John Bull, the super-portable Plinth would make it easier for him to use his beloved iPad by holding it rock-steady at three different angles.
“I’d … like to carry with me everywhere I go a stand that’s going to hold my iPad at the right angle, stable as a rock, and is instant and ready for use,” Bull says in a video that introduces his Kickstarter campaign for the Plinth. “I can’t find anything like that on the market so I’ve been working on a design for a product which does have all those features.”
The video, embedded below, shows Bull fumbling with an iPad Smart Cover before pulling the prototype Plinth — which is about the size of a typical smartphone — out of a pocket. The Plinth looks quite sleek, but the money shot comes a little over a minute in, when the universal tablet stand’s rubber-tipped support legs spring out at the touch of a button.
The Kickstarter campaign for the Plinth just launched. The project will be funded if backers pledge 35,000 pounds ($57,820) by Feb. 1.
Want one? If you pledge 10 pounds (about $16.50) now — and the project reaches its funding goal — you’ll get a deal on the Plinth, which Bull says should retail for $25 and be delivered in April 2014. As with most Kickstarter campaigns, there are more-elaborate rewards for bigger backers, including a tour of the factory where the injection-molded Plinths will be made.
