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News - 01/11/2007
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Las Vegas CES: Add-ons for iPod are everywhere at trade show
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 LAS VEGAS Apple Inc. and its iPod may not officially have a presence at the International Consumer Electronics Show, but the California company doesn't have to.
Many of the 2,700 exhibitors at the show here have grabbed hold of the iPod's market dominance and formed businesses wrapped around accessorizing and enhancing the portable music player.
No exaggeration, nearly every other booth you walk past has some form of accouterment for the iPod.
With some exceptions, most of these companies are generally little known, and some take full advantage of the lower-case "i" that has become so prevalent. (See iLive or the i.Sound brand.)
For one, there are the speaker systems. Atlantic introduced a $200 waterproof case for the iPod that can float alongside you in a swimming pool.
Adesso shows off the iLamp, which plays music and provides a little illumination while working.
ILive unveiled a speaker bar about the size of a FedEx tube that has an integrated slot-loading DVD player, subwoofer and docking station for the iPod. Its downfall is the name, which really rolls of the tongue: iHTD8817DT.
One of the most innovative uses of the iPod comes from speaker maker Altec Lansing.
Its portable speaker set, costing $350, has an 8.5-inch screen for watching video from the video-enabled iPod. You'd think picture quality would suffer when the screen is blown up a full 6 inches from the small device's 2.5-inch display, but it's just right, making the iMV712 perfect for the kitchen counter or bathroom -- a place consumer-electronics experts say has become one of the latest places for using gadgetry.
Then there are accessories, largely directed at the electronics industry's female clientele.
Golla of Finland showcased its line of mobile-device cases, which includes not only chic bags for iPods, but mobile phones, digital cameras and anything else palm-sized.
"Why not personalize them?" said Heli Siljam?ki, an account manager at Helsinki-based Golla, showing off funky designs on its bags and cases. "We tend to often wear our equipment everywhere we go."
For a company, making a line of iPod electronic accessories won't be a free ride. Licensing costs are in the range of $5 or $6 for every speaker set or other accessory sold, said dreamGear sales director Frank Kutcher III.
That company makes a variety of speaker systems stamped with a "Made for iPod" sanctioned logo.
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Source:  Richmond Times-Dispatch
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