PopSockets turned a simple lifehack into $169M in revenue

When I went back to Canada to visit my family at Christmas, my neice's friend (14 years old) had one. Definitely not a techie, or from a techie family. I thought it was pretty clever.

Maybe... but consider my counter-anecdotes 1) almost everyone uses them: I am a mid 30s professional and I’d say 1 out of every 2 people I work with has one - judges, law clerks, attorneys, judicial assistants, clients, all of their children... and 2) I see them all the time for promotions, from radio stations to non-profits giving them away at fairs, and bands both big and small selling them at shows. So those are two segments that are buying huge amounts of product in bulk. I doubt it will last, and would not be surprised if the numbers are inflated a bit, but right now they are hugely popular. Heck, my State Bar Associaiton even had dozens at a CLE recently, and I went to an Indian Child Welfare Act Conference 2 months ago and the tribes had stacks of them and were giving them out for free as well. It is the new hot advertisement/brand placement(?) avenue.

They retail at $10, but wholesale they sell for $3.

Source: I work for a company that sells hundreds of these a week.

They probably get thrown away. I have received a few of them and throw them all away.

Hey hnnh44,

Good eye. I should have caught that one. I've updated the post to indicate the correct numbers (which was more like ~35 million units in 2017) and added an editor's note about the mistake. Thanks!

I see people using them all the time. I tried with my current phone but I took it off once I realized it broke my wireless charging.