iOstand for iPad and Android tablets has a magnetic personality
The startup iOmounts has sold out of its first shipment of iOstands, a nifty pedestal accessory for tablets and smartphones.
- Maggie Award for Best Regularly Featured Web Column/Consumer
For anyone who likes to put the iPad up on a pedestal, here's the accessory for you: the iOstand.
Produced by the folks at iOmounts--we ran into them at CES last month--the iOstand comes in three colors--black, white, or stainless steel. While the product's name implies that it's made for Apple products, it can also be used with other tablets.
The iOstand actually consists of four components: a weighted base, the pedestal with a ball on the end of it, and a powerful magnet (the iOcore) that adheres to the ball. You then stick a metal ring (the iOadapts) on the back of your iPad (we put it on a case) and that ring then adheres to the magnet.
The magnetic setup allows you to easily manipulate the iPad (or an Android tablet) into portrait or landscape mode and tilt it at various angles. That said, the magnet isn't so powerful that your iPad will remain stuck to it no matter what. Tilt it too much, in fact, and it will separate from the magnet and potentially fall (hopefully not far).
This stand can also be used with an iPhone (or any smartphone) and iOmounts also makes a smaller and more affordable iOmini just for smartphones.
It's a fairly nifty accessory, but it doesn't come cheap: the black and white powdercoat models cost $89, while the stainless steel version goes for $109. Despite those prices, the company says that "due to overwhelming response" its first batch is sold out.
The next shipment will apparently be available in March.