HandeHolder, the handheld tablet computer accessory, has gained traction as a Michigan-made product in the Great Lakes State, but the Ann Arbor-based startup has its eyes on going national this year.
HandeHolder has watched its sales on Amazon take off in recent months, with more units moving in the last two months than the previous nine months. The 19-month-old startup is working to get its products in big box retailers this year and is also undergoing preliminary tests to sell its products to branches of the U.S. military.
"We're working very hard," Mike Burns, president & owner of
HandeHolder. "We have dozens of lines in the water. Hopefully, this will ramp up so we sell thousands and thousands per week."
The device is a handstrap that allows users to easily hold and use tablet computers. The device was inspired when Burns, owner of Burns Computing, got his first iPad. He nearly dropped it right away while using it for his company's race event app. A few minutes later he had created the first version of HandeHolder.
Today the company ships thousands of HandeHolders and is developing more versions, including a holster-style and shoulder strap version. The company employs about half a dozen people and a few independent contractors who are trying to get more and more of mainstream America to adopt the product.
"We're in the process of going aggressively after business to business groups," Burns says.
Source: Mike Burns, president & owner of HandeHolder
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
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