iLounge

Backstage: Nyko “gets it,” and we’re relieved

There are bad things in some of the boxes that arrive at iLounge for testing. In fact, there are days when we feel absolutely certain that someone has a list of all of the things that could be branded with an “i” and scotch-taped to an iPod, and is only crossing off the ones that would cost more than $30 to manufacture.

Nyko could easily have fallen into that trap. It’s a video game accessory maker with a good development track record, but then, there are quite a few PDA accessory makers that have tried but failed to deliver anything of consequence for the iPod. Typically, that’s because they’ve released PDA-style accessories for a device that’s not a PDA. They’re different markets, different products, and different consumers.

Thankfully, someone (or a few people) at Nyko decided not to release gamers’ peripherals for the iPod. Instead, the company took the less traveled road, actually thinking about what iPod consumers might want and not already have. The results: cheap items like a Dock Connector-to-stereo RCA cable (the Stereo Link, sold for under $20 from a number of retailers) for one-stop iPod-to-stereo connections, and high-end accessories like an iPod video screen attachment (the Movie Player, approx. $249, coming later this year). There are a few really cool ideas in-between, as well.

The other key part is packaging. Most people hate to admit that they buy things because of the way they look, but the iPod’s changing that perception, and only a few accessory makers have figured that out. Again, Nyko could have gone in the video game direction - wacky colors, plastics, and so on. But it came up with its own riff on Apple’s style: Nyko accessories are made and packaged so as not to turn off younger or older buyers, and it’s not merely cloning Apple, Belkin, or Griffin efforts, either. There’s more transparent plastic, hints of color, and at least one “wow, that was smart” idea per accessory.

We’re glad that Nyko “gets it,” and we think that you are going to like a lot of what the company has to offer. For a larger photographic sample of what they’re up to, click on Read More below.