It boggles my mind why some people are willing to shell out $40 plus shipping to get a horizontal stand for the iPhone. When you can make a stand yourself with materials you already have. Some have made a stand out of pencils, others have used paper clips. While those are nice considerations, those have pointed edges that would make a $40 purchase seem like a brilliant move, if you were to puncture yourself somehow with it (e.g., it’s not hard to imagine stepping on the paperclip stand…) and land yourself in the ER. The stand that I made is pretty safe and is probably easier to make. You just need about 10 index cards and a couple strips of tape. Here’s how to make it:

1. Get 5 index cards and make two small creases on one horizontal edge. Then tape that edge and also tape the top horizontal edge, using separate strips of tape.

2. Take another 5 index cards and fold it in three equal parts, vertically. You an then make a triangle/pyramid pattern and tape the ends together. Next, tape one side of the pyramid to the back of the 5 index cards so that it props the original 5 cards to make a stand. Here’s a side view of the stand in case i’m not making any sense.

You can also thread your iPhone USB cable through the hole that we’ve created with the pyramid prop. Another plus of this stand is that it’s very portable. In fact, it’s foldable! Save yourself some cash and unnecessary injuries. This has replaced my hacked 1st gen iPhone dock (to fit the 3G S iPhone).