Experience
The Mobile Manager™ was a revolutionary new product unlike anything else on the market. Eldon was a leader in portable files, small plastic file totes designed to hold hanging and manila folders, but did not have any soft-sided or more traditional briefcases. Portable files were excellent in holding hanging folders, but regular briefcases failed miserably in this area.
Seeing an unmet need, Eldon created a cordura fabric carrying shell, with some of the useful features of soft-sided briefcases... outer accessory pockets, pen loops, business card holder, key hook, etc., in which a slightly modified portable file could be placed. Born was a unique hybrid... a soft-sided, hard case cable of neatly holding letter-sized hanging folders, and other often needed supplies. Finally, the ideal product for those who frequently carried files around and perhaps a cell phone, PDA, or even a laptop.
This new product created an entirely new niche, serving an unmet need, while carefully not cannibalizing sales of Eldon's existing portable file business nor creating new competitors by attacking the business of briefcase manufacturers.
Project type work has invaded most everyone's lives. As it seems most projects can no longer be confined to a single folder, they present unique needs of their own. How to keep all the folders of a project together and all the none project specific items that you always need... pens, pencils, highlighter, adhesive notes, calculator, etc, together? Enter the Mobile Manager Project Manager.
Selling the inner hard case component of the Mobile Manager with a card and adhesive sleeve for labeling as a standalone product introduced a solution for project based work. Each project could be placed in a case and the required case could be dropped into the fabric shell of a Mobile Manager as needed and all the materials for a particular project would be at hand.
And what's better than introducing a new product, driving more demand through an existing product, and expanding product family breadth of line... doing all that with $0 tooling expense.
While the Mobile Manager began to grow in popularity, it was a considerable increase in price for typical portable files and may have had more bells and whistles than some users needed.
To protect the Mobile Manager as it gained a stronger position and to help seed this new concept of products, The EZ Carry SimpliFILE was introduced. The EZ Carry served as a smaller step up from the standard portable file by introducing easier, hands-free carrying, perhaps for carrying files around the office to meetings or for the occasional to and from work. All done with negligible tooling expense.
Seen here with the accessory compartment opened and hanging files inside.
Add on cases with labeling sleeves provides a unique tool for on-the-go project or account management.
Without the bells and whistles of the Mobile Manager, a simple solution to hands free hanging-file transport.
brianrbrown: @garyware Hope they don't have to pay a licensing fee to Apple and Washington state! And would that be an"iFee"? 
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