- An analysis from PITAKA CEO on the latest Unbox Therapy’s explain video
So today “Lew Later”released a new video (https://youtu.be/tufKnkuVA28).
We thought that the video would be an apology for clearly copying one of our cases because it looks exactly the same as the PITAKA MagCase. But no, instead the 45 minute video explained why he made those cases and what he had done, not once did he even mention PITAKA and the fact he copied our ideas.
Ok, just to clarify the situation, let's just look at the "facts" that he mentioned and see if he is actually being truthful.
Let's start from why he "made his own" cases. Lew explained that his motivation was because he was expecting some "small modifications" for improving the experience. Apparently, he tried to talked to a number of manufacturers over "15 times", only to get negative feedback.
So, he decided to do it by himself. He then says that he invested about 7 months in order to make the phone cases perfect. And that is it.
But is that really the truth?
Firstly, as a major designer and manufacturer in this industry, we have never received any contact from him nor anyone on his behalf before this weekend. This weekend was the first time he contacted us, although not for modifications or product suggestions, he actually contacted us on a matter which he requested be kept strictly confidential.
It is also interesting to note that back in 2017 he reviewed our iPhone 7 MagCase and loved it.
So, let's see what he has done with those so-called improvements in the past 7 months.
-- cutouts for easier removal.
(by the way, such cutouts for easier removal were also one of options we tried 5 years ago. It was gave up as it looks not clean) .
-- lower frame-cuts
-- flash cutouts
-- aperture cutouts
Can you see? all of the subtle modifications are focused around changing the cutouts, that is it. To put it simply, those cuts are made by a laser-cutter, which means you can make changes such as this in a matter of minutes, granted, you might take an hour or two to finesse the cutout, but it is minutes and not months’ worth of effort or design. I can show you how fast we can make with a live streaming.
Or perhaps it is the ramp. He says that he changed the cutout of the aperture for S10 from a flat one to be a bit of a ramp for protection. Again, not difficult or time-consuming.
You can select that option when ordering: a flat one or a ramp one. And, if you changed your mind during production, it is a slight change in molding which does not take much effort.
He then goes on to mention the texture grip.
The texture pattern grip was something related to the coating thickness as well as the impregnation percentage of the fabric sheet, which we did 5 years ago and we named it 3D-Grip. You can still find it on our website (https://www.ipitaka.com/pages/3d-grip).
So, after 7 months of design, it is difficult to see what is different.
It is also odd that in the video, He kept waving his Pixel case around, and the Samsung cases, but never actually showed the viewers the iPhone 11 case, which are of his best-sellers according to him.
Why is that? Perhaps it is because he may not be able to tell the difference between his copy and the genuine PITAKA iPhone cases!
Pitaka case : no dust come inside or between
later(fake) case : full dust inside
Lewis couldn’t even make a good copy.
The 7 month story is obviously a lie to say he had the idea before knowing of Pitaka.
Lew registered latercase com only on September 14, 2019.
This doesn’t mean he couldn’t have been working on the case for longer… However it’s 2.5 months ago, hardly 7.
At the same this also means he had the case idea before you shipped him a sample of your Air Case.
He clearly didn’t design his cases, but is it possible he himself was somehow scammed? I cannot see why he’d do this if it’s just a plain ripoff of your product.
Clearly it’s a good return on investment:
Price: $45
Let’s say the manufacturer charges 33% of that (probably less): $14.8
Expected views on Lew’s video: 2m
Let’s say 1% of viewers buy a case: $600k profit
Maybe he thought it’s worth this money to rip off your product? The fact he deleted his previous review of your case before launching his, suggests he was somewhat aware of the similarity…
It’s so hard to believe he’d be a scammer… I thought he’s on the consumer’s side :(
Damn Lew, you’re better than that. Yall know Pitaka. You got millions of followers, you can fool all of us.
It is obvious that he is not a designer, Enginer nor a good liar for that mater. Come on! He ruined his integrity clearly on this one.
I have been using pitaka from my iphone 6s time i am so happy with it …then i upgraded to iphone x and the first case i got was pitaka mag case still using the same case no regret always will #supportpitaka
Best cases ever #pitaka
And now out of no where a fat dude with beard clicking pictures of stupid plants and mannequin copies idea of pitaka case and tells the world that its his own innovation its a total BS