Sunday, November 21, 2010

Lunatik Case for Apple iPod Nano



Lunatik Case for Apple iPod Nano

As many of you know, I am not only a design fanatic, but I am also the CEO and designer for BulletTrain.com which makes some very innovative accessories for the Apple iPad and the Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad.

A reader of Jake's Rolex World and he sent in this email today:

Hi Jake,


I know you’re into great designs, check out this little gem being developed for the new iPod Nano.


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1104350651/tiktok-lunatik-multi-touch-watch-kits?ref=email


I’ve pledged to secure my Lunatik and I can’t wait to receive it.


Kind regards


Perry




Here is my response:


Hi Perry,

I am familiar with the Lunatik, and saw their video earlier this week.

Maybe I am slow or just missing something, but can you please tell me why in the world you would want to wear an iPod Nano on you wrist?

It just does not make any sense to me and here is why:

First and foremost, the iPod Nano has no Bluetooth, so if you want to listen to music you have to have the headphone jack plug in your watch on your wrist!?!?!? This makes zero sense and strikes me as being extremely uncomfortable and it would ALWAYS get in the way.

The Nano does not play video, or have a phone or do anything except play music, or maybe play a slideshow, so what is the advantage of having it on your wrist?

Plus, if you want to see what time it is, you have to push a button to turn on the screen. This defeats the "at-a-glance" nature of wearing a wrist-watch.

Also, you have to recharge it all the time. The whole point of having an automatic watch is you don't have to wind it, and a quartz watch only needs to have its battery replaced every 5 years, but having a watch you have to plug-in every few days seems highly non-sensical to me.

It strikes me that the Lunatik is perfectly named in the sense you almost have to be one to waste your money on its novel design. In my opinion, from what I can tell so far, this product is a shining example of "design for design sake" which makes no sense to me. It's like putting a Cadillac medallion on the front of a Mercedes, or wearing ski gloves on the beach in Tahiti.

Speaking of the beach in Tahiti, another challenge is that the iPad Nano is not waterproof, so if you get it wet, it could ruin it.

Of course, as a designer, I am open-minded and realize, I might have this completely backwards, so please enlighten me as to why you or anybody would want to wear an iPod Nano on their wrist?

Warmest regards,

Jake

So if anybody wants to school me on what I am missing here, please do so in the comments or send me an email. Of course it is impressive they have already raised a quarter of a million dollars, when their goal was to raise only $15,000.