Earlier this week, the talents down at Filter Squad put up their latest creation – FlipCase – on the App Store. A free app, it uses the plastic case of the new iPhone 5C to create a Connect4 game – watch the 1 minute video above to see what I mean.
350,000 Youtube video views later – it looks like FlipCase has gone viral. What struck me was the simple genius of the idea, the lateral thinking involved in seeing the case as part of the exercise. In an era of complex virtual reality 3-D HD gaming, FlipCase returns us to a simpler, more innocent time, with a wave of warm nostalgia. It’s free, it’s fun – why not while away an empty moment?
The creators – Dave McKinney and Stuart Hall – are the same team behind the devastatingly awesome Discovr app – 3.5 million downloads and counting. They had an inkling about doing something for the new iPhone 5C. They had seen images of the new phone with its plastic cases, but did not have their hands on one. So, just in case (no pun intended) they could do something with it, they started mapping out how it might work, and how they could get the coloured circles to bounce on cue within the holes.
As soon as the new phones and cases came to town, Dave went down to Perth’s only Apple store, took some cases out to plonk over the screen (a helpful Apple employee pointed out they were supposed to go the other way), and bought three. After that , the whole thing was then cranked out in 2 days.
Why do a free app? How can they benefit? The guys just want to create something cool. They thought it would be fun to do, and that people might like it. Something novel, something they could be proud of. The PR benefits of being mentioned on PC Mag.com , CNet Australia , Polygon and dozens more are probably more than enough for Filter Squad. One comment simply says : “humans are great.”
Job done boys. Well done.
Meanwhile, download FlipCase and flip out your brain… flipping brilliant!
FlipCase is an App optimised for iPhone5 and the latest iOS7 operating system
Dave McKinney (@davidkmckinney)
Stuart Hall (@stuartkhall)
