did phone cases exist before the iPhone?
like, I'm sure there were some, but mostly phones just didn't need cases
@noiob they were mostly cosmetic, but I did have a soft case on one of my candy bar java phones
@noiob I think cases were mostly for larger things like PDAs, pocket PCs and the like
@kyra yeah but those were usually OEM, weren't they?
@noiob where there's a popular device there's infinite injection moulded/pleather garbage to wrap it in
@noiob obviously prior to the iphone yeah they were less common but when you can make a thousand shitty cases for less than the device costs you're probably gonna at least try
@kyra molds and r&d cost money
@kyra also people ain't gonna buy cases for their nokias that leave a hole in the floor rather than break when dropped
@noiob there were other phone manufacturers, and also some of those cases were designed to provide grip on smooth plastic handsets rather than protecting them from falls
@noiob also water resistant cases were a thing
@noiob if you have a factory already you can sell 1% of the things you make and make a massive profit. Petroleum biproducts don't cost a whole lot