R2-D2 iPhone case stealing Droid 2’s thunder

Geeks across America have been salivating ever since Motorola announced a special edition of its Droid 2 phone designed to look like everyone’s favorite little droid, R2-D2, but now an iPhone case maker is trying to steal that thunder.

Available for pre-order directly from the official Star Wars werbsite, the case is designed to fit the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS only, not the iPhone 4.

“You can now deck out your iPhone with this StarWarsShop-exclusive R2-D2 deco case, featuring the signature styling of everyone’s favorite astromech,” says the official product description.

George Lucas’s movie creation was surely never considered to become a central topic for the mobile phone industry, but a ripple effect began when Motorola realized it had to pay Lucas for the ability to call its phone the “Droid.” Since it already had that business relationship, Motorola decided to milk it further and is launching an R2-D2 version of the Droid 2 next month.

And in turn, this is apparently making Lucasfilm realize that it can start gettig in on the mobile phone business, so it went behind Motorola’s back and has created a case that won’t make iPhone owners feel as jealous when they see someone with the R2-D2 phone walking down the street.

It’s a hard case and the pre-order price is set at $29.95. Cases will begin shipping in October.