Burberry, Gucci , fashion gurus to design cases for iPads

San Francisco: As day by day the number of iPad users are increasing, the need to accessorize and make it more fashionable has become the need of the hour. A slew of big labels in the designer and accessory industry are rolling out their fashion ideas for iPad cases. Burberry, Orbino, Gucci and Tod's are few of the accessory designers for the iPad. Lauren Pazzaneze, owner of the fashion and design blog JunkyardArts.com said "Think of it as the perfect blank canvas with which a flashy and overly expensive case can be designed for." For the past 10 years Apple has dominated the IDEA design awards, receiving recognition for its work on the iPod, iMac and iPhone, among many others. Jonathan Ive, the principle designer of numerous Apple devices, including the iPad, was awarded an honorary Ph.D. from the Rhode Island School of Design, and was named the "world's smartest designer" in 2010 by Fortune. During Fashion Week in late September, Burberry hosted a tie-in to its runway show, inviting customers to watch the event in one of the company's 25 flagship stores. After watching the show, customers were given iPads to shop for the items they just saw on the live stream. It is not only the designers but also the luxury retailers who are making use o f the iPad. To upscale their market, InterContinental Hotels Group recently equipped its concierge teams in New York, London, Atlanta and Hong Kong with iPads. It was a move to attract the consumer who wants to feel like they're e-savvy (whether they actually are or not), and also wanted to engage those who are not familiar with the tablet culture. "We put menu pages from different restaurants in front of our client's faces," says Dominic Alfonzetti, chief concierge at InterContinental New York Barclay hotel. "Everybody loves a new toy, and they all love this."