Silicone "skins" for electronics: What happened to the market?

December 5, 2009 7:11 PM

Silicone "skins" for electronics: What happened to the market?

Used to be you could get a silicone "skin" for just about any electronic device in any color on eBay or a number of sites. I just bought a couple new cameras and can't find skins for them. I also did a search for other new gadgets and couldn't find any. I had skins for my Archos player, an earlier lumix camera, and a few other things. What happened to this market?

(I'm looking for something for the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX3 and DMC-ZR1)

posted by wogbat to Technology (5 answers total)

I don't have any hard evidence, but as data points, a lot of my friends and I gave up silicone skins for things like the Invisible Shield. Technology is slimmer now, and it doesn't make sense to bulk it up with a silicone case. Another reason I switched away is the tendency for silicone skins to become loose and discolor over time. Dirt and dust gets underneath and guarantees that I'll scratch my electronics.

For what it's worth, I've never seen or used any silicone cases for cameras.
posted by mittenedsex at 8:07 PM on December 5, 2009 [1 favorite]

Silicone skins actually are worse than cases - dirt get trapped under and essentially can sand the finish down. Also, they get dirty very easily and look terrible.
posted by wongcorgi at 9:18 PM on December 5, 2009

OTOH, nearly everyone I know who has an iPhone bulks it up with a skin, case, or the like.
posted by hattifattener at 10:45 PM on December 5, 2009

I just whipped the skin off my phone to check, don't see any damage to the finish. Even if there was, I'm more concerned with protecting the phone from impact than some scratches.

I like silicone skins, they give me a good grip on my phone and I can set it on a car seat without it sliding around. I'm a little distressed to hear that people are having trouble getting a hold of them.
posted by yohko at 11:39 PM on December 5, 2009

Silicone skins grab and hold dirt, dust, hair, junk, etc. and end up looking grubby and filthy rather quickly, making whatever they covered look grubby and filthy.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:26 AM on December 6, 2009