Erich Huang (left) and Nils Gustafsson with Just Mobile’s Encore iPad stand and Xtand Pro
This is the tenth—and final—profile in our series on design entrepreneurs, looking at how they got where they are, what they do all day, and what advice they have for other designers running their own businesses. Read last week’s profile here.
If you’ve purchased a new smartphone or tablet recently, there’s a good chance you’ve been disappointed by the quality of the available accessories—so many third-party cases, docks, touch pens, stands and other add-ons just don’t display the same attention to industrial design as the devices themselves.
Just Mobile, a technology design brand founded in 2005 by Nils Gustafsson and Erich Huang, is one company trying to right this imbalance. “There has been an unbelievable boom in the market for the iPhone, the iPad and other mobile devices,” Gustafsson says, “and a lot of companies are trying to get a cut of the accessories business. In this fast market, the quality is often missing. Most accessories don’t reach the level of quality a company like Apple delivers in its hardware.”
Just Mobile’s latest releases include the AluPocket (above) and AluCup (below).
Quality design was the thing that first brought Gustafsson and Huang together. They met by chance in a German museum, where they found themselves admiring the same Wilhelm Wagenfeld table lamp. This sparked a conversation about their shared passion for stylish design and quality execution. Just Mobile initially focused on Windows mobile phones, but when Apple released its first iPhone in 2007, the company tabled every other project to focus on the new smartphone. The result was the wildly popular Xtand for iPhone. Today, the company has over 30 product lines for sale in Apple Stores and at the MoMA Design Store, among other outlets, as well as a laundry list of accolades, including several Red Dot awards. You know you’re on to something when artists like David Hockney buy your AluPen, a pencil-shaped stylus for touch screens. “That was a great honor,” Huang says.
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