Most online services related to social media involve a website or mobile app, but Caseby.me is one that focuses on offline products. The service lets users design smartphone cases with photos shared via social media platforms. While such services are still fairly new in Korea, we have seen similar startups overseas such as Moo for business cards in the US.
Caseby.me’s service concept is simple. By logging in with Facebook, Instagram or Cyworld, users can select photos that they like from their accounts and then place the designs on cases. Of course it offers the option to use photos saved on your PC, so there is no problem if you’re not the overly public type online.
Caseby.me has six layouts to choose from and users can put from one to eight photos onto a case. There are also ten different filters to choose from which can be applied to images. The payment system is quite good as it doesn’t use Active X, still a common method for online transactions in Korea. What’s even more surprising is that payments can even be made through an iPad.
Though the company appears to be trying to gain the interest of social users by offering a special discount of 5000 won for customers who like the company’s Facebook page, it’s likely that users may lose interest once they have their case. It will be interesting to see what other products the company follows with in the future.
A nice design is only half of the product, quality being the other. So how is the quality of the cases? According to Caseby.me, they are made with a poly-carbonate and urethane matte stamping method, and film is produced in the UK and Italy, making the case more durable. Cases cost just 24,900 won and are delivered for free. Currently cases can be made for the iPhone 4/4S and 5, as well as the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.
It’s exciting to see social concepts being applied to mobile phone cases and it makes one wonder what other “offline” products and services will appear in 2013.
This article has been adapted from the original post in Korean by VentureSquare contributor Mushman.
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