Nissan makes healing iPhone cover
Ever had a big scratch on your iPhone? Nissan has you covered... Its new self-repairing gel casing could be the next big phone accessoryNissan claims to have developed the world's first 'self-healing' iPhone case, which makes use of paint-protection technology developed for its Nissan and Infiniti passenger cars.
Nissan's Scratch Shield technology features a self-repairing membrane that, in the case of the iPhone 4/4S screen cover, can repair minor scratches in as little as one hour, and can mend larger blemishes over the course of a week - without any human intervention.
The key to the special gel-like outer membrane, which is made from polyrotaxane, is that its "chemical structure is able to react to change back to its original shape and fill the gap - 'healing' the blemish," says Nissan.
The Wolverine-like self-repairing case is currently in a Beta-testing phase, with select Nissan/Infiniti customers and journalists testing the case.
The Scratch Shield was developed by Nissan and the University of Tokyo and Advanced Softmaterials Inc., first used on Nissan's luxury vehicle range, Infiniti, and also the Nissan 370Z and X-Trail.
Anti-scratch technology originally developed to keep cars looking spotless has the potential to be applied to several other fields, says Bob Laishley, Overseas Programme Director (Business Development) for Nissan in Europe.
"The Scratch Shield iPhone case is a great example of us taking a Nissan automotive technology that has had a huge impact for our customers, and then shifting the boundaries to apply it to another everyday product.
"We like to think laterally by taking the great innovations we've got from an automotive point of view, and looking at how they could be applied to improve everyday issues," added Laishley.
"We're really excited about the possibilities provided by this technology. In Japan, we've already linked up with world-leading mobile operator NTT DoCoMo to allow them to use the Scratch Shield technology on its Style Series N-03B mobile phones, and we think this technology has real scope beyond the automotive world."
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