As I recently learned from Freedom of Creation, FreshFiber has launched a line of 3D printed iPhone cases. This touches on something that I have been working on, an iPhone “case” project that hopefully will see light of day within the next month or so.

I do have some reservations about their product, though.  While I think this is a great application for 3D printing technology, I am an iPhone user and I have been through a few different cases. The first one I had was super minimal. Since I carry the phone in one of my pants pockets and the my favorite part of the form factor was how slim it was compared to my Treo 680, I wanted a case that didn’t bulk up the profile. The one I got barely wrapped around the edges, was a single piece of plastic and was minimal as it gets. After a year of loving use (read abuse) I had to exchange my phone for a factory refurb because of some issues with the audio jack.

When I removed the cover that I had used for the last year, I discovered that because their wasn’t a perfectly tight seal between the phone and the plastic tiny particle of pocket matter had managed to get in between the phone and the case and proceeded to scratch the ever-living daylights out of the iPhone’s mirror black, oh-so-pretty finish. While the case certainly did its job against falls, it actually performed worse for scratches than a bare iPhone would have done.