Apple’s MFi program

We’re in the middle of getting the CordLite certified through Apple and it’s been interesting to say the least.  This is not a bash Apple post, but hopefully it will serve as a “heads-up” to anyone looking to sell a product that electrically connects to an iPod, iPhone, or iPad. (except for the audio jack… I think that’s exempt) I think this even includes some Bluetooth applications.

The Apple Overlord

Apple has created a very lucrative market and they’re protecting it by controlling the accessories that are allowed in it.  They even make a pretty serious royalty for every product sold.  It may sound strange, but it’s the way it works, and I don’t think it’s changing any time soon.

Be sure to Start Early

We actually got enrolled in the MFi program last March, and we’re planning on going through the entire planning and testing phases ourselves… and it wasn’t going to be too expensive (a few grand) <— this is different for every product, but for simple products it can even be less.  So, we weren’t too worried about it at first.

As we continued through the process (still before Kickstarter), we realized that the reps that we dealt with were not overly helpful in resolving concerns or mistakes.  We were new to this process, so we needed helpful people that actually explained things… so this was when we started to get frustrated and worried about the whole MFi thing.  We began doubting our decision to be “legit”, and started thinking about going “rogue” and bypassing the certification all together.

We eventually decided that if we ever want to make a real business out of this, we need to do things right and build a positive relationship with Apple, vs being on their naughty list.

MFi Certified Manufacturers

Our saving grace was actually an email from the MFi program, recommending MFi certified manufacturers.  Just a few weeks before Kickstarter we were negotiating final pricing with one of these companies and we were assured they would handle the entire certification process.  It was a huge relief to us, and we were excited to be able to worry about other things.  The only potential drawback is that the manufacturer pays the royalty to apple, which means before you even sell any, you’ve paid a royalty on it.  We’re okay with it, but it’s something to consider.

So is it worth it?

Not sure… we’ll see,I guess.  I know there are plenty of companies out there that are not MFi certified and they seem to be doing fine, but there are also a few that have been sued by Apple for this exact thing… so in our eyes, whether it’s worth it or not, we’re doing it.

CordLite Design Contest Update - 18 Days until voting begins We&#8217;ve received a number of really great designs from artists from all over the world, and we&#8217;re getting more and more excited to see who wins the Custom Engraved CordLite. I thought I&#8217;d take a stab at some designs [above]. I mean, who wouldn&#8217;t want to see a laser engraved tree every night as you plug in your iPhone? These will not be entered into the contest so feel free to use them as inspiration. Thanks Everyone for the support
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CordLite Design Contest Update -

18 Days until voting begins

We’ve received a number of really great designs from artists from all over the world, and we’re getting more and more excited to see who wins the Custom Engraved CordLite.

I thought I’d take a stab at some designs [above]. I mean, who wouldn’t want to see a laser engraved tree every night as you plug in your iPhone?

These will not be entered into the contest so feel free to use them as inspiration.

Thanks Everyone for the support

Half Way!!

5 days in and already more than 50% funded… amazing!

When the CordLite showed up on Tech Crunch & Engadget Saturday Morning, the pledges started coming in super fast.  I would receive an email everytime we got a backer, which would buzz my iPhone, and I though it was coolest thing to feel a buzz every few seconds…and then my phone died around lunch time… hehe.  Needless to say, I had to turn off the email notifications.

We are just in awe of the support we’ve received.  We’ve gotten a ton of messages from people rooting us on, including a few here in town (Melbourne), which is awesome.

This whole experience has been amazing.  We’re fully in “get the word out” mode right now but at the same time we’re tightening up the design based on backer suggestions, and tee-ing up manufacturers to minimize lead times.

Still lots to do, but its all worth it, knowing people like the product.

Kickstarter, PHP screen scrape [super simple]

This may be a little obsessive, but since my kickstarter project started yesterday I’ve been hitting refresh every few minutes to see the latest amount.  We had some friends over last night and I figured it would be inappropriate to be on my phone, refreshing the whole time, so I wrote(copied mostly) a quick PHP script that “scrapes” the total pledged amount from the kickstarter page, and auto refreshes every 5 minutes.

I opened it up on the iPad and set it on the counter, so I could glance over every once in a while.  Everyone got a kick out of it actually.  Whenever it went up, it was a little celebration.

Warning: The iPad display will not go to sleep if the refresh is less than the iPad’s sleep time.   It works well if you’re gonna have it up for a while, but it will kill the battery quicker.

The Code
I grabbed the scraping code from a tutorial here and the rest is just simpe html and css.
I’m not going to go through every little step of the code, but here’s the file.
ks-pledges.zip

On the iPad
I created the file to work on the iPad, so the CSS is not setup to work on every device, and every browser.  But if you plan to use it on the iPad as well, its all setup. 

Full Screen
If you want to view it in fullscreen mode on the iPad (no address bar), just open it up in Safari (on the iPad), and “add it to the Home Screen.” (bookmark menu)

You can set the icon for the bookmark by adding a file called “apple-touch-icon.png” and setting the “apple-touch-icon” in your <head> section.  Its already  there in the file provided, just make sure the file location is correct.

That’s It! Super simple, but kinda fun
This script could easily be modified to display other information from the kickstarter page, or even store the information in a database for analysis later.

Hope it helps
-Irv

Days away!

Not long ago, we wrote about the opportunities small design firms have nowadays through sites like Kickstarter… 

We’ve been working on a product since last summer and we’re days away from releasing it to Kickstarter.  
We’ve done all the design work, modified the design for manufacturing, tweaked, and tweaked and tweaked, and finally got a product that we’re proud of.
We’ve updated our website and have been trying to get our social media outlets open nice and wide. 
We created 3D models, and rendered some photos and animations for the Kickstarter video
…and we finished the Kickstarter video and project page

…Phew! 

It’s a false sense of completion right now because in reality, this is just the beginning… hopefully.

As the project gets close to going live, we’ll be working like crazy to get it up on the blogs.  I say THE blogs, but that’s like a gagillion blogs that we want it to go up on.  This whole kickstarter thing is new to us, so we’ll be opening up new networks and really going for it.

So lets say we’re successful, which is the plan… then what?  Well that’s when the work really begins.  Giving the manufacturers the green light, managing lead times to enable effective assembly and packaging, and making sure mistakes are minimal and resolutions are quick and painless.

It will definitely be stressful, but I’m so stoked right now! Just thinking of the chance that there will be people interested in our product really gets me excited.  Hopefully thats the case.

…more info coming soon…