'A Piece Of Cloth' iPhone Pocket — Why, Oh Why Apple?

Back in 2004, Steve Jobs boldly mocked his company’s “revolutionary new product” (direct quote from his keynote), adding that it will “keep your iPod warm on cold days,” only to leave the audience in splits. The $29 iPod Sock was born that day. For that price, it remained relatively popular for eight years before getting axed in 2012.

Yesterday, it felt like the iPod Sock rose from the ashes, only now to keep an iPhone warm, and only now costing a whopping $230.

Apple unveiled a limited-edition iPhone accessory dubbed the iPhone Pocket. This cross-body pouch has a 3D-knitted design with a ribbed mesh texture, and can store your iPhone, AirPods, and various small daily accessories. It is crafted by the esteemed Issey Miyake Design Studio, the same team behind the famous black turtlenecks favoured by Jobs.

Apple calls the iPhone Pocket “a beautiful way to wear and carry iPhone.” Not all are agreeing though.

The Verge remarked: “Take a $29 iPod Sock and make it pretentious.”

Others criticised the iPhone Pocket’s high price tag. “At $150 for the short strap version and $230 for the long strap, it makes the old iPod Sock look like a bargain,” wrote MacRumors.

“iPhone Pocket is probably the company’s weirdest accessory yet,” GSMArena headlined.

One can’t help applaud Jobs' audacity to launch a mere $29 iPod Sock onstage (and he did it in the most interesting of ways). The $230 iPhone Pocket, instead, was introduced merely by a press note on the website. It’s a limited-edition release, and one also can’t help but feel that Apple wouldn’t have made it a permanent accessory, fearing its failure.

The all-new iPhone Pocket, which Apple describes as “a piece of cloth,” comes at a time when critics and users alike are slamming the Cupertino-based tech major for not innovating enough.

Just months back, Apple unveiled the thin iPhone Air, and already, there are reports that the company has “notified engineers and suppliers that the next iPhone Air has been taken off the schedule.” If that were true, it’s a major setback for Apple’s entry into the thin smartphone space, for which it made a lot of tech trade-offs in the Air.

Apple’s AI journey has so far been a total shambles. Apple Intelligence rollout has been slow and staggered, Siri’s AI integration has been delayed, and competitors like Google and Samsung are racing ahead in the space. 

The question arises: At a time when Apple should be building the next groundbreaking tech, is it innovating on a $230 “piece of cloth” that could potentially replace your pant pocket?

We all know Apple can do better than that — let’s hope it does soon!