Attach Rate

I’ve always heard that the ‘attach rate’ for covers and cases is very high for the iPhone. For example, this article from The Fiscal Times:

This made for an ideal scenario for, say, a case maker. “Before the iPhone, on a smartphone you might only see a 30 to 40 percent attach rate on protective covers,” says Morgan. “On the other hand, after the first couple of years, iPhone was seeing 60 to 70 percent attach rate for protective covers.”

Given that, I always find it interesting when Apple launches a new iPhone without an available Apple branded case. For example, as I write this there don’t appear to be any cases available for the iPhone 5 in the Apple Store. How many millions of people have preordered with no option to splurge on a case at checkout?

Third party case makers couldn’t officially start work on cases (and certainly couldn’t have gotten cases into the Apple Store) until the iPhone was announced on the 12th,  so this preorder period seems to be something that Apple could dominate at will.

I wonder if the motivation for skipping this opportunity relates to a desire for people to use the iPhone without a cover? After all, the iPhone doesn’t seem nearly as thin and light when you wrap it in a case.