Boa Design, Inc.

Boa Design, Inc.
http://www.boacase.com/products/ipod/ipod-classic-80GB.html
http://boacase.com/products/iphone.html
US $20.00

During the next few minutes, if you are considering jumping up and screaming, “Nemo, you have lost your marbles,” please remember something important. When designers are developing a think-different product concept, they first need to discard conventional ideas about what’s expected by the consumer.

BoaCase’s team was “Discouraged by the lackluster design of cases available on the market; seas of molded plastic and recycled rubber. We had to do something.” What they did was “envisioned a diverse range of fashion garments and accessories that work together with electronic devices to improve everyday life without compromise to style.” Remember those words: fashion, accessories, and style.

Innovative products need to be evaluated by what they ARE, not by what they aren’t. In the case of BoaCase.com (excuse the pun), they are iPod and iPhone sleeves or sheaths, not “cases” in the ordinary sense. You slip your device into a Boa, and there it resides for travel, audio playback, and fashion statement.

A typical reviewer will state:

“Boa’s new case is a slim sheath that snugly slides over your iPhone or iPod. Boa says that this case is only 1 millimeter thin, and is available in twenty colors. Since the Boa has no holes or access ports, the iPhone is crippled when inside. You’ve got to completely remove the iPhone from the case to use it!”

An open minded examiner differs, by asking the company how its unusual sheaths or sleeves were conceived. Boa Design tells MyMac:

“The reason that we chose to make the BOA Clutch case is not only because of its sleek, form-fitting design (it adds no bulk to your pocket and looks pretty cool) but because of the micro-knit fibre that is bonded on the inside of the case. This will actually clean off any fingerprints on your iPhone or iPod just by putting it on and taking it off again. There is a demonstration using flour fingerprints on our YouTube “boalife” page.

“We felt this was important because, yes, you can have one of the normal ‘houses’ for your device, but they are usually bulky, and instead of cleaning, they actually attract dust and lint (especially the plastic ones) but they don’t give your devices THAT much protection. We feel that if you are a Mac fan, then you want to feel, touch and see your device fully rather than having it held captive in one of those houses that you don’t take it out of.
 
“We decided that we would provide minimalist protection. The BOA clutch case will provide protection of your device while it is in your pocket against stratches and dings, and won’t be covered in fluff when you take it back out. The small branded BOA loop that you see is to run a headphone cable through – which you can test out by just holding the cable of your headphones – it provides a little support by catching most of the weight of the device on the loop, rather than in the actual headphone jack.
 
“The company was initially founded by a former Fashion Institute of Technology (here in New York City) student. Since then, we have worked on finding the best fabrics, best design specifications and patenting the design. The website only went live a few weeks ago.

Here is a link for our youtube video if you want to take a look at how to put them on.

During real life MyMac usage tests, an iPhone + Boa will be most effective either in storage or travel mode, or in playlist “iPod” mode, where no physical contact with the iPhone is required. If you decide you don’t like the Boa for your iPhone, give it to a pal who has a Motorola RAZR phone, because the iPhone sheath fits perfectly as a RAZR coverall.

An iPod + Boa is a better use of the slim sheath, because you can easily activate the wheel and central button on an iPod through the form-fitting sleeve. Material and colors are nicely manufactured. For fashionable security, no one will know you have an iPod within a BoaCase unless you show them, because you can’t see anything except the colored case, as in the photo below:

If you want to read a wacko article on Boa for MacBook Air, our friends at Gizmodo.com have one here.

We’ll do an evaluation of Boa laptop computer cases during the summer months, when colorful MacBook and MacBook Pro sleeves become available from Boa Design.