LAS VEGAS, NV and DANVILLE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 01/07/15 -- i-Blades™ today announced from the 2015 International CES that it has created the world's first "Smart" Smartphone Case platform. Based on its patented and patent-pending "blades" technology, a plain old smartphone can be turned into a personalized device just by adding a "Smart" Case that has customizable functional features like extended battery life, 1TB of memory and other special customized hardware and software capabilities.
"We were looking for a way to extend the life and functionality of the millions of smartphones in the market. It was unacceptable to me that it was impossible to do that without designing a completely new smartphone," said Jorge Fernandes, CEO of i-Blades. "Together with co-founder Paul Meissner, we set out to change that. The i-Blades platform makes it possible to simply customize the phone's functionality through the smartphone case in the form of a base and additional stackable blades all chosen by the consumer. Our software and hardware controlled smartphone cases are like no other on the market."
Smartphone Cases -- Reinvented
The i-Blades' modular platform enables existing smartphones to add a Base Blade™ with a range of options including more battery and more memory. This Base Blade™ connects to smartphones using the smartphone USB or lightning connector. The Base Blade™ then provides an outward facing USB connector like the ones consumers already have, so they can continue to use existing external items and accessories such as power chargers. However, the base plate also repurposes as an extensible connector.
"It's a real breakthrough to have a connector run by application software on the phone. This innovation allows developers to invent new hardware and software applications and make them available to consumers very quickly," said Meissner. "And, this same base blade can be integrated with the smartphone to provide access to the phone's internal functionality for all the blades attached to the consumer's device."
Product Features
- Base Blade™: The Base Blade platform not only provides functionality, but also allows users to extend the capabilities of their smartphone case. Our first product demonstrates using a battery as the base blade, but you can choose from a large list of other functions, including memory or a custom processor, as the base blade. Then, more blades can be added later via our extensible connector.
- Memory Blade™: The Memory Blade is an add-on to an existing Base Blade that allows customers to add up to 1 Terabyte of memory to their mobile device. No need to purchase a different smartphone or case.
- Sports Blade™: The Sports Blade can be used for adding the functionality of wearable devices, especially outdoors. Typical scenarios include fitness tracking and sports, hunting and fishing, pet management and remote control for drones.
- Medical Blade™: The Medical Blade allows users to take control of their health. This blade can be used to monitor such things as diabetes and heartbeat.
- Custom Blades: i-Blades provides a platform for developers to custom design add-on blades to the base blade or to create custom base blades.
Target Markets
i-Blades is targeting cover/case makers and smartphone companies for the new technology. With i-Blades, case makers and smartphone companies can expand their product portfolio by leveraging existing products to create a new category of functional cases, thereby increasing revenues and market share.
The company is also looking to partner with others in the mobile ecosystem who want to further integrate and expand the options available to consumers. Targets include wireless operators, mobile device distributors, automotive manufacturers, medical devices, "Internet of Things" developers, and retail outlets.
"i-Blades has the ability to create a new category in the case market," says Fernandes. "Smart Smartphone Cases will, I believe, be bigger than the existing case market. Why? Because now companies can quickly and easily innovate with existing and new cases for smartphone and tablets without having to design a whole new case for each function or feature a consumer desires."
The i-Blades Team
The i-Blades team is committed to creating a new category of smartphone cases -- cases that give people the power to customize and personalize their smartphones. Team members draw upon their years of technology, design and go-to-market experience with backgrounds spanning Silicon Valley.
The vision of Co-founders Fernandes, a serial entrepreneur and founder of MobiBucks and VivoTech, creators of NFC and PayPass payment technologies, and Meissner, a long time technology CEO and investor in energy, mobile and sensors and semiconductors, is to make a significant impact on the mobile device case industry, a market that has been virtually void of innovation for the past 6 years.
About i-Blades
At i-Blades, we're changing the view of what a mobile device case can be. Our innovative and patented "blades" technology makes it possible to add functionality (and fun) to smartphone, tablet or other device cases. From battery "blades" to memory, medical app, outdoor sports and a host of other "blades," i-Blades products allow mobile accessory companies to turn plain old case covers into fun and functional covers or to create a whole new category of accessories.
We're a passionate team dedicated to building products that give people the power to customize and personalize their mobile devices -- to really make them their own. For more information visit www.i-blades.com, follows us on Twitter @idashblades or call us at 650.646.7771.
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