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i-Mate shuts down main US business

updated 05:05 pm EST, Sat March 1, 2008

 

i-Mate closes US office


i-Mate's office in Redmond, Washington has been almost completely dissolved, with the company laying off almost its entire workforce, while others left on their own volition. According to Engadget, the Dubai-based company ran into problems with US distribution of its Ultimate line of communication devices. This led to i-Mate laying off almost its entire US operations team, including the engineering, quality assurance, and technical writing departments.

The company will still sell unlocked product through a US web portal, which the former sales director has supposedly agreed to run.

The closure comes shortly after i-Mate had refreshed the Ultimate line of products with HSUPA internet connectivity on February 12th, which evidently wasn't enough to sustain the company.


By Electronista Staff

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industry, peripherals, distribution, i-mate, closure, lay offs

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Previous Comments

  1. BelugaShark

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2007

    0
    03/01, 06:23pm | report spam | reply

    WTH

    How is this relevant to Apple products? The only connection between this i-Mate and Apple is the letter *i*.


  1. BelugaShark

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2007

    0
    03/01, 06:27pm | report spam | reply

    btw

    it's not even compatible with Macs!


  1. russellb

    Junior Member

    Joined: Sep 2001

    0
    03/01, 07:13pm | report spam | reply

    Imate

    I would never again own an I-Mate phone they are c*** ... too many unfixed bugs and problems


  1. Flying Meat

    Junior Member

    Joined: Jan 2007

    0
    03/01, 10:07pm | report spam | reply

    high on promise,

    low on delivery and marketing? It seems it had connectivity options far beyond your US cell phone company offerings, but R&D and marketing wasn't funded sufficiently to gain a significant advantage and mind-share advantage.

    Too bad for the employees, apparently. It's good that someone has agreed to maintain contact with the company's existing customer base, but sadly, it's a sales person. The only way "the name" could redeem itself is through a strong connection with the developer community, and an undying love of the project by its final representative. That's a staggeringly up-hill struggle for capital and buy-in just waiting to happen.

    Perhaps a strategic partnership from the copy-write/trademark/patent holders with a Skype or other marginally interested relevant party is the only real avenue...

    Good luck on providing a robust user experience regardless of the user's computer platform choice.


  1. lamewing

    Dedicated MacNNer

    Joined: Aug 2004

    0
    03/02, 01:19pm | report spam | reply

    Joe

    beluashark, This story isn't under iPodnn or Macnn, but instead under electronista.com, so...it is relevant. Pay attention next time.


  1. Jonathan-Tanya

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Oct 2004

    0
    03/02, 01:30pm | report spam | reply

    lamewing

    lamewing, don't lecture beluashark...this was headlined at macnn, and I don't know about you, buy the access keys for this article are mac (win) and I'm being gently reminded for a longer post, I need to visit the macintosh area at forums.macnn.com

    So YOU pay attention. The owners of macnn are driving traffic to their non-mac site, on non-mac articles....and quit trying to make the world upside, people have a right to complain about it.


  1. BelugaShark

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2007

    0
    03/02, 01:30pm | report spam | reply

    lamewing

    Oh yes it is! This article is posted on Macnn's news-page and clicking it brings readers to this page. So you need to pay attention and check your info next time.

    no pun intended.


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