“Well-known entertainment personality and producer Ryan Seacrest said he had invested in a startup, which he also co-founded, that makes a keyboard accessory for the Apple iPhone,” Kara Swisher reports for AllThingsD.
“The Typo Keyboard will makes its debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas at the beginning of 2014,” Swisher reports. “While the company declined to discuss funding, sources said that Seacrest and his co-founder have invested over $1 million.”
Swisher reports, “It took two years of development to get to the Typo, which seems to clip onto the smartphone like a protective case (I have not tried it, as yet — though I type just fine on a virtual keyboard).”
More info in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yeah, um, where’d my iPhone’s Touch ID go? Oops.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Dan K.” for the heads up.]
Won’t win any beauty contests will it and those exposed keys look potentially troublesome. Don’t see him making his money back any time soon.
D….O….A!
“where’d my iPhone’s Touch ID go? ”
Now it’s the space-bar…., no no, wait….
Out!
May Seacrest invest in many other money losing unnecessary propositions. His 15 minutes of finger-down-throat-gagging fame is about over isn’t it?
Thank you! Talk about famous for being famous….sheesh! Seacrest is a very poor imitation of the old announcer, Dick Clark.
So instead of spending $200 buying a BlackBerry, he spends (and probably loses) $1 million buying a keyboard?
Complete and utter rubbish keyboard attachment BTW.
And horizontal mode?…
That seems about like developing an attachment for horses to pull your car.
When the Zombie Apocalypse arrives you’ll be glad you have it.
The keyboard appears to completely cover the home button.
The number of people who want a keyboard so much that they are willing to give up on the home button must be far to small to ever repay that million dollar investment.
Press ctrl-alt-del for the home button.
Good catch!
Dysfunctionalization of the iPhone: Not good.
In other news Ryan invested $2 million for converting mp3 files into 8-track cassettes
What do you do when one of the cheap plastic keys gets knocked out? Then how neat is the physical keyboard?
Headline is wrong on two accounts.
First we find out that he invested in a company that is making a keyboard, far different that investing in a keyboard. Then we find out that Seacrest AND another person is making the investment, which means the amount in the headline may be off by a half million dollars or more.
I hate false headlines that sucker you into reading a story.
And calling it TYPO just piles on the fail.
Ryan who?
Over $500 and it doesn’t have a physical keyboard? Oh, now it does and it can finally be a huge honking business machine and finally make inroads to the business user market.
Ooh, an accessory to make my iPhone look butt-ugly!
Look at it this way, it is just a means to sell iPhones to people who falsely think they absolutely NEED a keyboard. I suspect after a month with a new “Typo” and a new iPhone, most will realize it isn’t necessary.
As far as investment goes 1 Million at $99 or future funding of 5m, you are talking selling 100,000 units or 500,000 units just to cover your investment. I just can’t see that number of units.
Maybe it is me, I’ve never been able to type on a small keyboard and I prefer a virtual keyboard or a full size one.
“Typo” is a terrible name for a keyboard. 😉
F*ckUp™ was already registered.
You win the thread. Congratulations.
-jcr
That’s a great looking Blackberry you’ve got there Ryan!
Thank God someone stepped in and gave Blackberry a helping hand.
Now Obama can have an iPhone disguised as a Blackberry!
They’re going to make out like bandits on this.
Why didn’t they do a kickstarted???
Come on MDN, surely your eyes work better than that… This is on an iPhone 5, there is not touch ID but I think that the keyboard is a waste. Especially with the new home button at the bottom right where it can get easily pressed accidentally.
Where’d you get that beard of bees iBerry?
I don’t think Ryan Seacrest et al planned for the Touch ID.
if someone were really interested ..why bother ….just just get a blackberry.
Oops!
Next time you want to throw some money away Ryan, just send it too me. I’ll at least send you a nice thank you card with a pic of my smiling family vacationing wherever we feel like.
dick