Pinć, a smartphone case allowing users to tap into virtual reality, has reached its crowdfunding campaign goal of $50,000.
Created by Toronto-based company Cordon Media, Pinć is a case that wraps around the outside of select Android phones, the iPhone 6, and the iPhone 6 Plus. Users attach the smartphone case to their faces, in front of their eyes, with an elastic band, essentially turning the smartphone and the case into a pair of goggles. The device also comes with two “pinchers,” which are basically small controllers that wrap around a person’s fingers, letting them swipe and pinch their way through the air – and also allowing them to control what they’re seeing in front of their eyes.
Even though Pinć is a nifty little device, it’s not the type of product Cordon usually launches. The company typically sticks to developing apps and websites for its clients, but its developers worked on Pinć as a side project and launched it on Indiegogo at the end of November 2013, hoping to test the markets and see if people were interested in its product. It has now reached $54,607 in funding at the time of this writing, but it’s still taking preorders up until 3 a.m. EST on Jan. 23. A discovery kit, which includes the case, pinchers, and SDK, sells for $99.
While Pinć might draw some comparisons to Facebook’s Oculus Rift, one of the most well-known virtual reality headsets in gaming and entertainment, Cordon is trying to market its device as a productivity tool. Some of the applications Cordon is envisioning include allowing marketers to generate a better online shopping experience on mobile devices, as well as allowing users to do creative work like document creation, editing, and editing images in Photoshop.
“We see the opportunity for VR as much broader than just gaming, and clearly the world agrees,” said Milan Baic, president at Cordon, in a statement. “Areas like everyday computing, shopping and entertainment are the next step in virtual reality, and with Pinć, people can keep all of this technology in their pockets.”
Cordon expects to release an SDK for developers early this year, and it will start shipping Pinć devices sometime this summer.
