I was thinking about Apple's decision to give away cases with the iPhone, and wondering about how much of an impact that was going to have on 3rd party case manufacturers. I'm sure it'll hurt them a little bit, but I think that the majority of cases get bought for customisation as much as protection. Either because people like the look of the case, or because it provides some extra functionality that the phone (or other device) doesn't already have. For mtcase of choice, the Speck ToughSkin, it's a combination of both. It is more skewed towards function than aesthetics, but that just gives it more aesthetic appeal to me. Anyway, enough sidetracking.
With the apparent fix to most of the iPhone 4's reception issues being a case, the accessory industry was probably counting on a windfall. A bumper season even. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) With the Apple cases being given away for free it seems they're likely going to sell less cases rather than more.
What I find interesting is the potential parallel between iPhones with cases, and MS Windows with antiviral software. If you're reliant on having a case with your iPhone 4 or having to suffer through a miserable user experience, then you're in a similar boat to PC users having to use antiviral software.
Now the way the two situations have come about are almost polar opposites. the need for antiviral software grew slowly over time. While some may argue that the need for it came about due to Microsoft's poorly engineered product, in reality it was more to do with a changing world and people who worked hard to find flaws and outsmart the MS engineers. If the Apple situation really is due to the antennas shorting, then the need for a case has just been thrust abruptly into the marketplace due to some bad engineering.
It makes me chuckle to imagine accessary makers banding together to complain to Apple at the launch of the iPhone 5, as due to design improvements cases were no longer needed. Thinking about things in that light really highlights how ridiculous McAfee & Symatec's complaints of anti-competitive behaviour by Microsoft when it was trying to launch its own anti-virus product really were.
Just to clarify my view here - I don't really believe that cases on the iPhone 4 are as necessary as anti-viral software on Windows. It's just an interesting parallel to ponder.
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