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Typo Launches New iPhone 6 Keyboard, Avoiding Previous BlackBerry Lawsuit

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Ryan Seacrest-backed Typo has recently begun shipping a new keyboard case for the iPhone 6 that the company says is designed to avoid the legal pitfalls of its first foray into the iOS keyboard market, reports Re/code.

BlackBerry's lawsuit against the original Typo iPhone Keyboard Case hit a week before the case was publicly unveiled at CES this past January, claiming the Typo keyboard was nearly identical the iconic BlackBerry keyboard. The lawsuit remains pending, but in the interim, BlackBerry was granted an injunction to block sales of the original Typo keyboard.

Screenshot-23.png
Typo2 for iPhone 6 functions similarly to its predecessor in that it acts as a tangible keyboard alternative for users not comfortable with Apple's touch-screen QWERTY keys, and Typo notes the new keyboard is modeled after the iPhone's own software keyboard.

One major drawback, however, is that it blocks the iPhone 6's Touch ID capabilities. CEO Laurence Hallier (who co-created the Typo keyboard with Ryan Seacrest) didn't express worry over the issue, claiming that most of Typo's core fanbase wouldn't mind omitting Touch ID in favor of using a physical keyboard.

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Hallier also told Re/code that the company is working on "a completely different take on a keyboard for the iPad." Hoping to launch sometime next year, the company has reportedly been working on the product for over two years and invested over $2 million on its design. Typo designed an iPhone 6 Plus keyboard, but as described by Hallier, it was "so big" it was "top heavy." The company is working on a new design for Apple's larger-screened iPhone, but it won't ship until the middle of 2015.

The Typo2 for iPhone 6 can be purchased from Typo's official website for $99, with an iPhone 5/5s version also available for $79. Initial pre-orders of the iPhone 6 version sold out quickly, but the company promises new pre-orders will ship by December 15.

Article Link: Typo Launches New iPhone 6 Keyboard, Avoiding Previous BlackBerry Lawsuit
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2014/12/08/typo2-iphone-6-keyboard/
Completely unnecessary, hideous piece of plastic junk, that does you one better and hides TouchID. LMAO!


The very thing that Steve Jobs abhorred and wanted to put in the trash can in designing the iPhone.
 
I've grown to love a software keyboard, my thumbs were always too fat for these tiny physical ones. Plus, I believe autocorrect only works with software keyboards on iOS, unless an app has it's own.
 
"CEO Laurence Hallier (who co-created the Typo keyboard with Ryan Seacrest) didn't express worry over the issue, claiming that most of Typo's core fanbase wouldn't mind omitting Touch ID in favor of using a physical keyboard."

should post a disclaimer this does not support Pay since now wont be able to use Pay with your device.
 
What consumer would willingly give up the incredibly beneficial Touch-ID feature for a plastic keyboard that people are completely fine without? It makes the phone look like a weird remote/wand hybrid.

Also, the keyboard still literally looks identical to a blackberry keyboard, sooooo...
 
I can understand nixing the use of the Touch ID in the iPhone 5s, since back then, there was no Touch ID API and it was just so users can log into the iPhone. But now, many apps use the Touch ID so ease keyboard entry, and :apple:Pay is its hottest new reason to use it, so this is going to appeal to only the last holdouts of the BlackBerry era, IMO.
 
I found my old blackberry a few weeks back and tried typing on it, took forever compared to my 6 Plus. Perhaps if people took the 45 mins to learn the iPhone keyboard, they wouldn't need this POS?
 
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This thing is DOA. If Seacrest wanted to flush a ton of money down the toilet, he could have just given it to me.
 
I think it's fitting that they named this product after a mistake you make with your keyboard.
 
Fail on Many Levels

First of all:

> ...claiming that most of Typo's core fanbase wouldn't mind omitting Touch ID in favor of using a physical keyboard.

Erm, no. We mind. Even those on a budget, buying the 5s right now, are doing so for the TouchID as a contributing factor.

I bought the 6 for the somewhat larger screen, but also for 128gb AND the TouchID.

Second, as others have already expressed. I am not going to get a hideous plastic panel of bumps and try pushing on them like they are bubble wrap.

And... "Typo"? That's seriously the name? As in "mistake"?

That's certainly accurate, I suppose.
 
As a non user of a blackberry product ever, I don't see this product every taking off.

Plus extending the size for the phone and not using touch id seems like two big issues that would turn poeple off this keyboard.
 
This is huge, and resitricts the use of Apple Pay and Touch ID? Who would want this?!
 
" most of Typo's core fanbase wouldn't mind omitting Touch ID in favor of using a physical keyboard."

He went on to say: "Most of the interest in our product comes from people trapped in the 1990's anyway."
 
It's funny how some people think they will be successful in the market with products such as this. It reminds me of those joysticks you could stick on top of the touchscreen of your iPhone.
 
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