@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
@kyra yeah but devices usually weren't that popular, or they had moving parts that were hard to build a case for
@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
@kyra heh
@kyra also people ain't gonna buy cases for their nokias that leave a hole in the floor rather than break when dropped