Best Buy Innovates... A Tiny Bit

One of the biggest frustrations of working at the Apple Store focused on iPod/iPhone cases. People would look at cases in their shiny packaging, and ask if they could open it up to try it. At the time, the policy was no since that would then be open merchandise. It was annoying for the customers, and led to unpleasant interactions at times for employees.

Best Buy of all people may have found a solution. If only it worked. Best Buy now offers the mobile "fitting room", allowing you to try cases on your iPhone before you buy. There's a large bowl of cases that a Best Buy employee can get if interested (check for a sign in the cell phone area of your local store for availability). Then, presumably, you would get to try these cases on your iPhone.

I tried out the service while looking for a case for the iPhone 3GS. There was one of those slick cases that doubles as a battery, and I asked if I could try it. They had it in the basket, but then the Best Buy employee warned, "That's the one we don't let people try because it's really snug." Hmm.. I came back with another, more pedestrian case, and tried again. "I don't have that case, but I have this one that's like it." "That case is hard, I think this one is soft," I replied. "Yeah, but it's not much softer than this one."

I was 0 for 2 in actually trying cases on the phone before purchasing. Maybe another retailer could implement this a little more elgantly...

Otterbox Strength iPod iPhone Case Review

Telling one iPod or iPhone case from another can be a daunting task. After awhile, they all run together: working at the apple store, a woman once got upset on the phone. She asked if we had the plastic iPod case. "Which one?" I replied, innocently enough. "The plastic one!" she replied.

Anyhow, the Otterbox Strength case for the iPod nano and iPhone is certainly unique, from it's bright pink color, to its mixed soft/hard case hybrid, to the fact that sales of the Strength case help benefit a charity.

I had a chance to try out both cases. The video review is below, but the quick summary: very tough and very bright.