In London, musician and entrepreneur Will.i.am has announced plans for his new consumer electronics and app venture called i.am+. The iPhone accessory is designed – in the star’s own words – to “turn your smartphone into a genius-phone.”
The i.am+ add-on camera for Apple’s iPhone is designed to boost the quality of captured images. The accessory, which clips onto the back of the iPhone, provides a 14 megapixel sensor and higher-quality flash than the one provided with the iPhone’s own eight megapixel camera.
“We have our own sensor and a better flash. You dock you phone into our device and it turns you smartphone into a genius-phone,” Will.i.am told The Telegraph of his invention. “We take over the camera.”
According to the Telegraph: The multi-Grammy-award-winning singer and musician described how he came up with the idea for the camera attachment at a photo shoot in London in 2008. ‘I was just hanging out afterwards, and one of the models took an iPhone picture, which circulated the planet before the shoot was even over,’ he says. ‘I took one of the photographer’s lenses and held it up on my [phone] and said “imagine this one day”. Then I said: “I’m going to do this”.’
Apple has granted i.am+ a development licence to produce and sell the camera accessory and camera app, and the i.am+ iPhone camera will work with the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 5.
The Telegraph reports that the add-on will be the first of a series of “i.am+” branded accessories that will launch on November 28th. No pricing has been revealed so far, but the iPhone accessories will be sold solely by Selfridges in London. Online soon at www.i.am