KISS lead singer Gene Simmons recently Tweeted out “KISS X GOOGLE,” along with a link to an article where he outs KISS themed Live Cases for Nexus and Pixel phones, from an iPhone. Simmons said that the band’s fanbase has evolved, and thinks of these Live Cases in much the same way that he thinks of band T-shirts. In that same article, Simmons breaks down the things he loves about his personal Pixel, saying that it’s a sophisticated piece of technology, but avoids being difficult to use. Simmons also harps on the camera as one of his favorite features, a point that the phone’s DxOMark scores back up by being one of the best smartphone cameras to date. Simmons goes on to talk about how technology has been changing the way that he and his band make music, and the fact that Google and its products have been there to help every step of the way.
As for the Live Cases themselves, they work in much the same way as previous versions, but this time with a KISS twist. They come in a number of designs, including the band logo in various artworks, and band members’ faces. Simmons, of course, says that his favorite is the one featuring his own mug. The NFC-enabled cases come with a matching wallpaper, turning the phone that dons them into an all-over, baked-in tribute to the owner’s love for the band. The Live Cases are already available in the Google Store as of yesterday and they’re set at a price of $40 depending on which phone you grab one for.
Simmons’ slight gaffe is easy to see as a sign of insincerity to the campaign, especially for Android purists, but it’s worth noting that iOS devices are, for the time being, more useful tools for musicians than anything running Google’s mobile OS. This likely comes down to the latency issue that can be solved to a point with third party software on the newest versions of Android. Unfortunately, this does not solve the fact that the iOS ecosystem has a huge head start when it comes to software, such as digital audio workstations that requires low audio latency. It’s also possible that Gene Simmons has both phones and this was simply the one in Simmons’ possession at the time. In any case it provides a nice laugh for consumers.
