Steve Jobs famously ridiculed pre-iPhone smartphones like the BlackBerry that came with a hardware keyboard, but if you still want one, a new startup backed by famous entertainment personality Ryan Seacrest is building one.
Called the Typo Keyboard, the hardware accessory for the iPhone pairs via Bluetooth, and its makers say users will be able to type faster, and commit fewer typos, without taking up screen real estate. The keyboard is backlit, so that you can even type at night.
Here’s a video of the product:
From AllThingsD:
“The back story of [Ryan] Seacrest’s interest in this — for many of his friends and colleagues, carrying two phones was a habit: One for typing and correspondence and an iPhone for virtually everything else. One night, Ryan and his friend Laurence Hallier, CEO of Show Media, were out to dinner and both had phones on the table. Two people, four phones!”
After testing out a bunch of such offerings — and there are a lot out there as competition — it took two years of development to get to the Typo
The Typo Keyboard ships in January 2014, and is available for pre-order for $99 from this link. Bluetooth keyboards are quite popular with iPad users, but if you want one for your iPhone, this seems like a good option.
Do you think there’s a market for accessories that add a hardware keyboard for the iPhone?
