Chickens or eggs first? I'm really not a good question to answer. Did you have a phone first or did you have a phone case first? This is a question equally difficult to answer. In 2022, we have no way of figuring out whether the Motorola DynaTAC 8000X, invented in 1973, is equipped with a protective case, after all, as early as the pager era, people have designed a variety of protective cases for pagers. However, if we put aside the question of "first organic or first shell", looking back at the development history of mobile phones, it is not difficult to find that mobile phone cases have spent 48 years with mobile phones along with charging interfaces and SIM cards.
Surprisingly, with the development of mobile phone technology, some smartphones have now said goodbye to charging interfaces and SIM cards: for example, Meizu Zero in 2019 adopts the non-porous design of wireless charging + eSIM, but even so, Meizu Zero, which is ahead of the times, still chooses to stand with the mobile phone case.
Yes, after so many years of development, the mobile phone that can accompany the development of the mobile phone so far is actually a mobile phone case that has nothing to do with the basic functions of the mobile phone.
Changes in the identity of the phone case
Although the mobile phone case has accompanied the mobile phone for decades, then again, the identity and responsibilities of the mobile phone case have actually undergone many changes. The original phone case function was very single - to protect the phone. Although it makes little sense to protect feature phones, especially Nokia 3310, which can "smash through the floor," in 2000, when the median household income was just over $40,000, a $160 phone still had some weight.
And the mobile phone of that year was not as versatile as the current smart phone, in addition to calling and texting, not many people will hold the mobile phone all day, so the mobile phone case at that time also played a role in carrying in addition to protection. The mobile phone pocket, which overseas netizens call "Asian fashion items", is the best example.
In order to facilitate the distinction, we temporarily call this kind of ancient mobile phone case that only plays a protective role as "mobile phone case 1.0". There is 1.0 naturally there is 2.0, and in my opinion, the biggest difference between 2.0 and 1.0 can be summarized in one word - "identity": in the era of mobile phone case 2.0, the mobile phone case is no longer a simple mobile phone protection measure, but a more "functional" role outside the protection: those mobile phone cases that can be used as a mobile phone stand are the best examples of the "mobile phone case 2.0" era.
From the perspective of development, the birth of the "2.0 era" mobile phone shell is inseparable from the development of mobile phone functions. In terms of demand, the birth of the clamshell protective case stems from the need for a convenient bracket when users use mobile phones to watch videos. But fundamentally, the birth of the flip phone case is actually the inevitable result of the development of mobile phones. The birth of Internet and mobile multimedia content has given mobile phones a use scenario including "horizontal viewing of video", and the reason why users will appear "mobile phones watching videos" is also for the same reason.
This kind of product design idea we can even see in products in recent years, such as Samsung for the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy S21 Ultra designed a mobile phone case that can hold the S Pen stylus. The new functions of the mobile phone have spawned new mobile phone case use scenarios, diversified mobile phone cases provide a richer development direction for mobile phones, and the mobile phone case and the mobile phone is not an immutable parasitic relationship, but a symbiotic relationship of common progress.
In fact, from the perspective of the mobile phone shell brand, we can also draw the same conclusion, the mobile phone shell brand Pitaka said in an interview before that "for most users, what they care about may not be the protection function of the mobile phone shell, but the added value it brings." This sentence contains two different trends: the mobile phone case 1.0 product with protection as the core has lost its competitiveness in the current environment, and the mobile phone case 2.0 with function as the core has replaced the mainstream now.
Although the emergence of functional mobile phone shells has changed the identity of mobile phone shells, for mobile phone shell brands, excessive dependence on mobile phone use scenarios will inevitably reduce the enthusiasm of mobile phone shell brand innovation. In 2022, when the goal of mobile phones has shifted from breakthrough innovation to lay a solid foundation, what functions can the mobile phone shell, which is symbiotic with mobile phones, come up with what functions that people must buy?
Different brands give different answers to this conundrum.
Two routes of culture and technology
According to the data of the express car, the user portrait of the keyword for mobile phone shell is a female consumer aged between 25-35 with a certain degree of financial ability, of which about 6.75% of the purchases occurred at 21:00. This user portrait is also roughly similar to the introduction of Tmall Xiao'er: in the Tmall platform, the number of female consumers of digital peripheral products such as mobile phone cases has surpassed that of male consumers. Such data looks a bit abnormal, and even some go against the public's inherent impression of digital enthusiasts, but if you look at the consumption capacity of cultural and creative products, such a market is actually very reasonable.
After keenly perceiving that "cultural creativity brings self-recognition" also belongs to the hidden function of mobile phone cases, Tmall has effectively combined the functionality of mobile phone cases, the trend attributes behind cultural and creative mobile phone cases and consumers' consumption psychology through the consumer psychology of trendy products, and introduced a number of mobile phone shell brands in the global market that have formed brand culture and have brand cultural value into Tmall.
For example, Bellroys, an Australian leather mobile phone shell brand with a market value of more than $59 million, entered Tmall International in 2014 with overseas direct mail, and consumers rated it as "thin" and "suitable for gifts". Under the successful case of Bellroys, Tmall has also continuously introduced a number of international trend mobile phone shell brands, enriching the domestic mobile phone case market with the route of trend culture. Fashion brand CASETiFY chose Tmall as its first sales network in the mainland, and Tmall as a sales channel also played an immediate role in the brand's sales - the official flagship store achieved millions of sales shortly after its opening.
I admit that in front of a "straight man" like me who uses a phone case for a whole year, buying a phone case 12 times a year is an "incomprehensible" and even a little consumeristic thing. But taking a step back, under the promotion of trend culture, the significance of the mobile phone case in terms of function is no longer limited to the traditional "use function", but presents the attribute of "accessories", and realizes the functions of "self-recognition" and "spiritual needs" at a better level. A wide variety of mobile phone case products allow users to use mobile phone cases to highlight their personality and preferences, and the characteristics of "meeting spiritual needs" can also allow mobile phone cases to open up a new market in addition to traditional functions.
Seeing this, some people may still think that the popularity of the mobile phone case market is an illusion jointly hyped by merchants and brands. However, according to the mobile phone shell brand itself, the demand for high-end mobile phone shells by domestic users has always existed. As mentioned above, mobile phone shell brand Pitaka said in an interview that more and more users are looking at the added value of mobile phones. According to pitaka's performance after specially forming a domestic market team in 2020, domestic users have actually been waiting for the emergence of high-end mobile phone cases:
Aramid fiber mobile phone cases, or the more popular but illegal name in China - "Kevlar mobile phone cases", has always been the main product of the Pitaka brand and has been widely praised in overseas markets. In May 2020, Pitaka formed a team responsible for developing the domestic market. After just two years of operation, the normal monthly sales of the store have reached 2 million in a short period of time, of which 60% come from mobile phone shell products.
Such sales results have been obtained in a short period of time, on the one hand, thanks to the excellent product quality of Pitaka, but on the other hand, it also confirms the brand's previous view: although the market has not yet emerged, domestic users have always needed high-end mobile phone case products. Excellent product strength meets the market gap that cannot be filled for a long time, coupled with appropriate market promotion, high-end mobile phone shells are popular in the domestic mobile phone accessories market, in fact, it is a matter of course.
Future changes in the mobile phone case market
With the realization of the spiritual pursuit of this new "function", mobile phone shell products have found a new way out in 2022, when the mobile phone form is stagnant. Under the bold prediction, with the gradual improvement of the status of mobile phones in daily life, mobile phone shells will gain a broader space for development in the direction of spiritual pursuit and self-awareness.
In 2020, Marvel's IP co-brand with offline daily miscellaneous brands achieved great success online, which once again proved that the cultural route is a feasible route for mobile phone shell brands. With the maturity of domestic copyright trading platforms such as Aliyu, it is foreseeable that mobile phone shell brands can not only use famous IP to open up the market, but also become an incubator for original IP, using cultural and creative peripherals to drive the development of cultural industries.
On the other hand, the unclear development direction of mobile phones also leaves enough space for the development of mobile phone shell brands, pitaka and other brands with related technology precipitation can also polish their own technology during this time, and continue to hone their related technologies in the mature mobile phone case market, and achieve "technology rush" after the future mobile phone development direction is clear, so as to earn the first opportunity.
In general, as a secondary industry attached to the development of the mobile phone industry, the mobile phone case can gradually develop from the original mobile phone accessories to the large market that is now independent, and such a change is indeed incredible. Although there are some "luck" components in the development of the mobile phone shell industry, in the final analysis, the success of the mobile phone shell is inseparable from the in-depth insight into user needs and market development, and it is inseparable from the speculation of consumer psychology. Tmall's advanced market layout has seized the opportunity of the outbreak of mobile phone cases, in fact, it has also occupied the crossroads of mobile phone case development.
Different from other e-commerce platforms, Alibaba's Tmall is obviously better than both business reserves and IP reserves, and high-end mobile phone shells have been transformed from digital accessories into fashion accessories, under the basis of Tmall's algorithm, mobile phone shell brands choose to settle in Tmall, which will obviously be a more appropriate choice. Under the leadership and support of a large number of consumers, Tmall, as the main battlefield of the mobile phone shell industry, is also destined to develop together with the mobile phone and mobile phone accessories market in the future and make progress together.