The iHit iPhone Case is Finally a Hit after launching in ’11
Everybody knows the iPhone was invented by a stoner. So it’s no wonder stoners have looked to improve upon it. One such improvement launched in 2011—a dugout iPhone case brilliantly named the iHit.
“The idea manifested out of a love of convenience,” said iHit’s creator James Edward. “Having a stash case attached to the one thing I never leave home without just seemed like a good idea.” Many agreed and a Kickstarter funding campaign was born. And unfortunately, it died in less than a day.
“The iHit is an ideal case for stoners. It works well,” wrote the Stoned Society. “This is PURE ingenuity and very innovative,” wrote the Stoned Canadian. In fact, Edward says that more than 50 publications from Gizmodo to the NY Times, to Tech Chruch wrote about the new invention. A lot of the attention was positive. However, “as with anything new and different there are those that choose to hate even though they never tried the product or had never smoked,” said Edward.
How do you know someone’s never smoked? They write lame shit like; “The iHit is for the wake-and-bakers. If you’re confronted with a jonesing Grateful Dead fan threatening to play an endless guitar solo if he doesn’t take a trip to the laughing tree, you can whip out the iHit,” said CNET.
Tech Chrunch came out with; “This contrivance was invented by Mssrs. Joshua and Edward, late of Miami, Florida, two gentlemen who I’m sure will go far in the industry of thinking-up wacky cases while consuming illicit substances.” And Runaround Tech said, “The developers are looking to raise $10,000 to fund their project. What’s not clear is how much of that cash they plan to use on smoking and what actually will go to the making of the case.”
With all the negative publicity and corny stoner jokes, it’s no wonder the Kickstarter campaign suffered. After a day of being live, it was pulled. Here’s CNET’s summary:
“Most major retails operations aren’t in the narcotic-themed gadget business, so iHit’s sales options may be going up in purple smoke. As a result, the makers of iHit are offering preorders for the case. If they don’t receive enough preorders, they promise to send your money back. So, if you want an iHit, all you have to do is send some cash to folks who theoretically enjoy a bit of Mary Jane and hope they don’t forget to send you either the case or your money back in between episodes of “Yo Gabba Gabba.”
“I guess Kickstarter changed their mind,” said Edward. “The reason was that Kickstarter does not host tobacco products. Which didn’t make sense because this is for smoking weed. We received some preorders, but the suspension from Kickstarter really took away a lot of our energy.”
So far 1,500 iHit cases have been sold. And that’s in the past few months. “We have only been in business since January,” Edward says. “After the suspension from Kickstarter the project lost steam. It wasn’t until July of 2013 that we revived the idea and secured the proper investment.”
We have some exciting new changes we are making to the new model that will take it to the next level, says Edward. Maybe like adding a lighter? “We have no plans for that, Edward says. “They already make a dope lighter case, we make a case for your dope.”
Check out theihit.com for more information.
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