IMT Special, Clicks maakt een iPhone hoesje met een hardware keyboard “it is time to bring buttons back’

00:00 Ja, wat doet hij eigenlijk? Ja, uh, ja, iets met tech. [muziek] Ja, iets met tech. Tijdens ons bezoek aan het Mobile World Congress in Barcelona namen we een aantal gesprekken op. Je kunt nu luisteren naar een gesprek met Jeff Gadway van Clicks.tech. Zij bedachten een hoesje voor de iPhone met een fysiek toetsenbord. Een product dat bizar veel aandacht kreeg in de pers en andere media. Aan hem vroegen we: waarom? [muziek] My full name- Yeah. Is Jeffrey Michael Gadway. [lacht] Not that full name. But Jeff Gadway is fine. You asked for my full name. Yeah, yeah, I know.

00:45 And we said we're gonna have fun, so. I'm not going to marry you, so [both laugh] okay. Uh. Okay. Jeff Gadway. Jeff Gadway, yeah. Uh, and, uh, I'm the head of product marketing at Clicks. Okay, cool. So I wanna start off with, with, we get into the product and the story, but how on earth is it possible that a case for an iPhone with a, a, a, a keypad is getting so much attention? I had to pause and think about that, because- Yeah, well, that's a golden question. Absolutely. W-well, the way we see it is that in order for the smartphone to evolve- Yeah... a number of years ago- Yeah... buttons had to go. Yeah. Touchscreens had to become prevalent. Applications and content had to take center stage. But somewhere along the way, we threw the buttons out with the bathwater, right?

01:37 There were a lot of good parts to buttons. They, they allow you to type confidently. They allow you to have fun and, like, feel- Yeah... what you're actually engaging with. And so we looked at the smartphone market a year ago, and we said, "Well, it's been about 10 years since there was a, a viable button phone. The iPhone has changed a lot. The iOS has changed a lot. We think it's time to bring buttons back." And we started looking into it, and we saw that not only was it completely viable, but by adding buttons back to a modern smartphone, it would allow you to do a lot of fun and cool new things that you just can't do on a smartphone today. Mm-hmm. And so we said, "Let's do it." Okay. Uh, I, I'm that guy that, that started with smartphones, like, in 2008, and, and before that already, so with the Windows phone and like that. So I'm, I'm, I'm a button guy.

02:29 I was a button guy. So with the first G1 from, uh, from the N- first Android phone, you know, the flip thing that, that, that hurt your finger on the left side because the screen was in the way, I, I, we, we loved it. But gradually, with the disappearance of BlackBerry, we saw the buttons go. We still had some people, like, whining that, "I want the h- the hardware buttons back." But the last, like, five, six years, nobody was talking about the hardware buttons anymore. Still, you got the idea. So was this idea fe- fed by, uh, information from the market, or people you met, or, or how? It's interesting you say people stopped asking for buttons. I would disagree. One of the co-founders of Clicks is a guy by the name of Kevin Michaluk, but people know him as CrackBerry Kevin. Okay. I know him.

03:14 He coined the term CrackBerry, and he ran essentially the biggest fan site for CrackBerry addicts. And Kevin, he describes himself as the complaint box for buttons. And every single day for the last decade, Kevin gets 30 or 40 emails from people saying, "I miss my buttons." So even though it's been a while since there's been a button phone, and people have adapted to touchscreens, there's still this latent desire for buttons. And we think that there's this whole new generation of people, unlike you and I, that have never experienced buttons before, and for them, it's completely new. With that, you mean young people? Yeah. Okay. So you sat down, you had this idea, we're going to do this, and you start developing, uh, you know, a case with a, a hardware, uh, keyboard in it.

04:06 So, um, it's called Clicks, but take me through the process of, of where we are now. So, uh, why-- You started with the iPhone. Why? So I'll take you through the process. Yeah. It was a year, just over a year ago when the idea was, was brought forward. Like, could we do a, a case with a keyboard for an iPhone? And the first thing the team did was built a model- Yeah... to see how it would feel in the hand. Is it something that is gonna be too big? Is it gonna have the right balance? And it ch- it checked that box. People felt like it was right. And so then it went into, like, a prototyping phase. And we had working prototypes around June or July of last year, and it was a matter of deciding how should the buttons be oriented.

04:50 Should they feel more like an iPhone keyboard or more like a BlackBerry keyboard? And what we realized was that if we wanted to make a keyboard for the iPhone in 2024, it needed to feel much more like an iPhone keyboard layout that people would know intuitively than a, an old keyboard phone. Mm-hmm. And so once those decisions were made, uh, then it became a matter of getting the product right. So how do, how should the buttons click? How should they sound? How much force should you need to make the, the key work? A-actuation pressure, it's called. And it was, like, all of those little details that we agonized over, uh, to, to get it right. And, and, and ultimately, we were able to go from idea to product in market in less than a year- Yeah... which is just incredible. That's amazing. That's amazing. And, and with a small team, I guess.

05:40 With a very small team. With a very small team. So, uh, the product's in front of me. It's, it's for... It's a podcast, so you can't see it, but everybody can, uh, Google it, Clicks, and you get the keyboard. It's, it's a very nice, solid, uh, tight, um, case with a, with a, uh, hardware keyboard, uh, keyboard under it. Um, I, I especially-Um, how did you test this? You had the prototypes, and how did you test this? Did, did you like give it to somebody from i- in the 70s, 50s, 40s, 30s, 20s, and then what's the reaction? So we went through a lot of iterations and prototypes. We had new product in our hands pretty much every two weeks. Okay. So we would experiment with different button shapes, different button textures. Should they be clear buttons, solid buttons, domed buttons, flat buttons?

06:29 What should the cutouts for the speaker, uh, look like so that they didn't get clogged up by dust and dirt? All of these things were little things that we were testing, and we had the benefit of a lot of industry experts. So one of the, the core people on the team is, uh, someone by the name of Michael Fisher. He is often known as MrMobile. Mm-hmm. He's a very prominent, uh, YouTube tech reviewer, and the benefit of having a guy like, uh, Michael on the team is that he can review it like all of the tech journalists would review it- Yeah... before it's even created. Yeah. So we knew what people were gonna say before we even put it out because we had somebody on the inside, and that was a real source of a lot of our insight going through the process. Yeah. So, um,

07:19 w- what kind of technology are you using? Is it... It- it's connected to a... Ah, it's connected to a USB-C or it, for this one it's a, it's a... How do you call this in- A Lightning connector... a Lightning. I'm not- Yeah... I'm not an Apple guy. I'm an Android guy. So, uh, I, I knew. It's a Lightning connector. So you, you really... It's just a hard wire connection, which is good. This was- Which is better... a really key decision that we made early on. Past cases for the iPhone 10 years ago- Yeah... they were Bluetooth accessories, so you had to charge it separately from your phone, and you had to pair it to your phone with Bluetooth. And the challenge with that is that now you've got something else to charge, and you've got a connection that you need to manage with your device.

07:59 By just plugging your iPhone into Clicks through the USB-C or Lightning connector- Yeah... it just works as a keyboard accessory. You don't have to install anything. You don't have to set anything up. As soon as you plug it in, you just start typing. Away you go. Which is wonderful. So, um, w- w- what, what kind of people... Well, that's the wrong question. How are you targeting this device? As a production device, or as a fun device, or as, as an everyday device, or, or how, how are you marketing this product? We think about a few different audiences. First, we know there are a lot of people who used to use button phones that miss their buttons. Those people understand the benefits of buttons already, so we don't feel like we need to market very much to them.

08:46 It's really more a matter of just creating awareness, and then they will come back to buttons, you know, because they miss them, and we hear from them all the time. I think the bigger opportunity is introducing a whole new generation of iPhone users and smartphone users to buttons for the first time. Maybe those are Gen Z folks. Maybe they're, maybe they're productivity people. Maybe they're fashion people that want an accessory that's gonna stand out a little bit. When you put Clicks down on a table, it looks unlike anything else that might be on that table. Honestly, it looks cool. Yeah. It looks cool, and that's, that's what I love the most is it's, it's a one piece, really tight fitting, uh, piece of, of hardware w- w- which, uh, complements the phone and, and doesn't look like it's a separate piece that is added on, and that's one of the main things what I like about it.

09:37 And it's the number one question I get all the time. I go through the drive-thru, right? And in Canada we have, uh, you can pay w- on your phone, right- Yeah. We've all. I love it... just with a QR code. Yeah. So I hold my phone up- Yeah... and the person scans the QR code, and then I see that look in their eye. Yeah. And I know the question that's coming next. Yeah. They say, "What phone is that?" Yeah. And I go, "It's an iPhone." They go, "What do you mean it's an iPhone?" Yeah. And then yeah, it's, "It's an iPhone. It's Clicks. It transforms your phone, gives you new functionality." And they go, "Oh, that's really cool." 'Cause for the first time, in order to get a keyboard, you don't have to give anything up. No.

10:07 You don't have to give up the operating system you like or the features that you expect on your phone. Yeah. So a- are there any, like, hidden functions in this keyboard, or is it just a keyboard as a keyboard? Beyond being a keyboard for typing, what this allows you to do on your iPhone is tap into all of the keyboard shortcuts from your Mac or your iPad that you use every day. So, uh, I'll show you. Something like Command+H- Yeah... just jumps to the home screen. Okay. Cool, yeah. Or Command+Space brings up your search. Uh, or when you go into something like a browser, you can just browse through the page by tapping the space bar. Okay. Wonderful. Yeah, yeah. So there's a lot of new features

10:49 that people have never experienced on their iPhone before that are hidden, and we're bringing them to the surface- Yeah... for the first time. But it, it really appeas- it appeals to the people who are living in the Apple ecosystem. Absolutely. You know, because this is the same with, uh, with, with the Mac, uh, uh, keys, et cetera. So, so that's cool. Then again, I'm coming back to my first question. How on earth is it possible [laughs] that a case with a keyboard gets so much attention? It looks cool. Because it's, it- It looks cool. Yeah. It looks different. Yeah. So people see it, and it, it disrupts what they think a phone should look like in 2024. Yeah. And what I will say is it's not for everyone. No. Right? It's very polarizing. Yeah. Some people love it.

11:30 Other people are like, "I don't understand it." But it gets people talking, and that's what we need. We need people talking about buttons again, and I think that's what allowed us to cut through all the noise- Yeah... at CES. To, to be honest, when I first saw the, the, the, the, the, the news article, I, I was, "Okay, those, you know, that's a company that made something," and they said, "Hey, we bring the buttons back." Well, well, yeah. Because I saw, like, literally dozens of these sort of Bluetooth-type things that literally didn't work. But actually, y- the Clicks name kept coming back, and now I've seen it in reality. I, I'm, I-I must say I'm really impressed because of the, the, it's very light, so it doesn't add... And how, what's the grams, the weight? I think it's like less than 40 grams.

12:17 Yeah, that's, that's- Somewhere in that neighborhood. Insanely low. Insanely low. Okay, cool. So, so you have now the iPhone 15 and 14? We've got 14 Pro- Yeah... and 14 Pro Max. Yeah. And 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max. Okay. So, so this is a thing now. It's a thing. Okay. We're shipping. Yeah. People have it in their hands. Yeah. It's, it's in the real world. Yeah. And we're taking... We sold out of the founder's edition, the first batch- Yeah... we sold through because the feedback was tremendous. Yeah. So right now we're taking reservations for the next batch of mass production units that will start shipping very shortly. Yeah. So, okay, you will be in shops or will you be di- direct consumer from the website, or you're also distributing to, like, media markets, like- Right now it's through the website.

13:07 Uh, you- we'll ship everywhere in the world. Uh, and part of the reason we're here at Mobile World Congress is to work on distribution partnerships. So, you know, we see a world where you could walk into a store where you would buy technology accessories and be able to buy Clicks. Okay, cool. So again, this is a thing now, and people are listening, they say, "Okay, cool, but I don't have an iPhone." From day one, our goal was build the best iPhone keyboard- Yeah... because we wanted, as you've pointed out, to do it in a very cohesive way. Yeah. But the feedback from the Android community has been overwhelming. We are getting lots of interest, lots of inquiries, and it's, it's something we're gonna look at, but we wanna make sure that we're building something that feels like an extension of the device and feels, like you've pointed out, is very cohesive.

13:54 Yeah. And we wouldn't do it unless we could, we could deliver on that expectation. It's almost impossible to do with, like, Android because there's so many different devices and you need volume to make this, right? Because it's insanely expensive to make a mold and, and, and then to, to produce the, the keyboard. And some of the, the Android devices out there, they've got a stylus holder. Where would you put a stylus- Yeah... in something like this? Yeah. So there's a lot of considerations that we'd need to make if we were to look at extending beyond iPhone. So right now we're focused on the iPhone and- Yeah... never say never. Well, I would love to sit at your table, like, how are we going to extend our product into s- a little bit more, because, you know, you have to have more to be a, like, a company that, that survives the craziness of, of this, uh, tech world because you got to renew and renew and renew.

14:42 So that, that's great. One of the ways that we're looking at that is, is through software. Yeah. Right? And what additional functionality could we bring to a product like Clicks by integrating it even more deeply with iOS. So one of the things that we've already talked about is going beyond the, the standard iOS shortcuts- Mm-hmm... and maybe working towards a day where customers could configure their own shortcuts. So imagine, you know, Dim, you, you get home and you wanna, uh, turn on your lights, and there could be a shortcut for that, or you wanna call your buddy, and so you- there's a shortcut for that. Like, we see Clicks as almost being like a remote control for your life because you've got, you know, 36- That's nice... shortcut buttons right on the front. That's, that's nice. That's nice.

15:28 And also, if I can pitch something for you, a, a, a direct to, uh, camera button. So if you click the button- Wouldn't that be great?... and, and then, and then a capture button. Because- A shutter button. Shutter button as well. Yep. Okay. I'm, I'm convinced. I don't have an iPhone. I don't want an iPhone. So you're more or less obliged to make something for the Android phone. I will be back, and I will asking you, "Okay, what do you have for me?" Thanks, man. Thank you. [muziek] Iets met Tech wordt gemaakt door Ruud Karis en Dimitri Vleugel. De productie is in handen van Kletspunt Media. Heb je tips of wil je reageren? Ga dan naar Instagram of mail naar [email protected]. [outro jingle]