Red Pop, press the button to snap the photo

Here's a really cool Kickstarter idea from UK company Beep Industries, called Red Pop.

There have been many attempts to bring a hardware shutter button solution to the iPhone, but all have infringed on Apples terms and condition, as they have been apps that have used unauthorized API's to access and harness the iPhones hardware buttons to trigger the camera shutter. However Brendan Dawes, designer at Beep Industries in Manchester, England, lhopes to change this, with Red Pop [subject to funding], a hardware shutter button, designed for the iPhone 4.

For more information on, and funding support for Red Pop, then check out the Kickstarter page here.

Comments

[John]

I think it looks great, but the $75 price is just too steep for me. If it were cheaper I'd jump on it.

[JakePeriphery]

Does it work on any camera app?

[Kate]

Hi Jake,

It is Kate from the Red Pop team here. We are hoping that by the time we ship in early September we will be integrated with a number of the most popular camera apps. Those conversations are taking place now. Hope that helps answer your question? Give us a shout if there are any apps in particular you would like to see it work with.

Cheers

[Dan]

I'm with John. Looks really cool but it would have to be a lot cheaper for me to add it to my arsenal, esp when I've got EarphoneCamera (jailbreak?) that gives me an external button. Sell it for $20 and you'll win me over.

Kate, I appreciate you taking part in this discussion. Do you have a concept of what they will sell for outside of the kickstarter pledge?

[Matt S.]

Cool idea but it loses the stealth advantage of just a plain phone for me. What prevents the phone from falling out of the connector?

[mark]

awesome idea, i like it a lot BUT.. it would have to be under $20 for me to consider it. The turn off is that if i were to get this, it means having yet another extra thing in my pocket to carry around! I was so happy when i got my iphone 4 that i didnt need to carry my ipod, my camera and my phone on me al the time .. because it was all replaced by the single device. Now if i were to get this, that means that i'm filling up my pockets again, or i'm bulking up my beautifully slim iphone. With the extra clunkiness that this button adds, i may as well go out and buy a bdget $100 camera that will have the same bulk and take way better pictures than my iphone could!
having said all that, i hope it works out for you guys, it looks cool, and you seem like nice, cool people. PS. I love the logo :)

[Kate]

Hi Dan we are looking at around the $60 -$75 mark but obviously as volumes go up we’ll be working to get the costs down!

[Kate]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for your comments. Differing opinions make the world a wonderful place! Glad you think we look like a nice bunch and like the logo. It's by our pal Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Co - the man is a genius. You should check out his site http://www.draplin.com/

Thanks,

Kate

[Jordan]

I may be in the minority, but for image acquisition, I use the built in app almost exclusively (with the exception being HDR shots) It's the fastest and I know it insures have I have a clean slate to go to apps. What's the strategy for the button? Do I have to use the app?

[Doug Chapin]

Two words - Jailbreak and SnapTap (well maybe 3 if you count Snap and Tap as two words).

[Kenneth Killeen]

iPhone 5 is just around the corner. Could potentially have a hardware button to level the playing field with android handsets as well as a diff form factor (larger screen etc)?

No one knows for sure yet obviously, but it's not great timing. I love the idea of a hardware button and the bulk styling of this unit is very ergonomic looking, but I hope Apple don't change it up too much as many iPhone based kickstarter projects may have difficulties.

[Blake Williams]

I would be very surprised if Apple added any hardware buttons in the iPhone5. All winds of rumor from Cupertino indicate an even sleeker (read: fewer buttons) design. I suspect Jobs would have no buttons at all on the phone if J.Ive's team can design such a beast.

[Charles]

I am wondering what steps are involved to take a picture. Do we first need to wake up the phone and bring up an app or will the button press do that?

[Kate]

Hi Charles,

When you attach Red Pop onto the phone it will fire up the app automatically and you are good to start taking pictures. Ideally we also want the app to switch to the foreground when you press the button too. We'd love it to do that so we're investigating the possibilities.

Thanks,

Kate

[Gordon Fraser]

I'd want it to work with camera+...Id also prefer it to be black......for same reasons as above...alot less conspicuous and I'm also concerened about the stress to the dock section when it's held landscape all the time and carried like a camera would be...it just doesn't look secure to me, although judging by the apparent design skills I'd imagine you've thought of that.

[JIm Moore]

Looks interesting... I'd love to integrate something like this with the apps I build. Might be nice in black - the grey looks quite - um remedial to me - like an inhaler or medical accoutrement. Just a thought... although I am guessing that's just test colours from the plastic formers.

[Fasoaga]

Hmm, iOS5 has a button: http://www.abload.de/img/stevejobswwdc2011livebq89r.jpg

[Jordan]

Yeah..this really sucks for the Red Button people :/

[Kate]

Hello there,

Thought you might be interested in our response to iOS5.

We still believe Red Pop has a place in the world.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/786496402/red-pop/posts

Thanks,

Kate