Posted by Tsepz_GP
HTC has had a number of executives and other employees leave the company recently, and it looks like at least two of the former HTC employees haven't had enough of the smartphone game, because they have announced that they are starting a rival smartphone company called Kazam.
Michael Coombes, former head of sales at HTC, will be the CEO of Kazam, and James Atkins, former U.K. marketing head for the company, will continue that line and be the chief marketing officer for the new smartphone manufacturer. The promise of Kazam is to build smartphones that are about "stunning design, robust hardware, and intuitive technology, underpinned with improved customer service."
Kazam will focus on the European market, and Coombes says that the size of the company will be a because its "dynamic structure and focus on local markets" will allow it to react more quickly to consumer needs. Kazam aims to differentiate itself from the competition by offering and improved "mobile experience that doesn't just stop once you've bought the phone."
It's certainly a nice idea, and more post-purchase support sounds great in theory. But, the smartphone market is an extremely competitive place right now, so there are no guarantees for success for Kazam. Being a smaller company, it simply won't have the resources to make a name in traditional ways, so CMO Atkins will have to prove that he can do a lot more with the marketing than what we saw from HTC.
http://www.phonearena.com/new[....]artphone-company-Kazam_id44213
The Smartphone companies are becoming like airlines, a new one pops up almost everyday now.
Posted by Bonovox
Kazam it sounds like a Muslim name ir something
Posted by Away
On 2013-06-19 02:23:00, Bonovox wrote:
Kazam it sounds like a Muslim name ir something
It's not a Muslim name. Nor does it sound like one to my knowledge. Might sound like a poor pronunciation of a Muslim name.
Anyway, on topic, how exactly do they hope to compete starting completely from scratch? They might as well start paying royalties to Microsoft now like Samsung and Apple do. Sony is the only one armed enough not to.
Their marketing guy couldn't advertise with all the capital they had, which wasn't much, and now hopes to get somewhere with nothing? Good luck.
Posted by Supa_Fly
On 2013-06-19 02:23:00, Bonovox wrote:
Kazam it sounds like a Muslim name ir something
Shazam!
Posted by Tsepz_GP
On 2013-06-19 12:40:37, Away wrote:
On 2013-06-19 02:23:00, Bonovox wrote:
Kazam it sounds like a Muslim name ir something
It's not a Muslim name. Nor does it sound like one to my knowledge. Might sound like a poor pronunciation of a Muslim name.
Anyway, on topic, how exactly do they hope to compete starting completely from scratch? They might as well start paying royalties to Microsoft now like Samsung and Apple do. Sony is the only one armed enough not to.
Their marketing guy couldn't advertise with all the capital they had, which wasn't much, and now hopes to get somewhere with nothing? Good luck.
Oh dear...
ZTE JOINS SONY, SAMSUNG, AND LG, SIGNS DEAL WITH MICROSOFT TO PAY ANDROID ROYALTIES
http://www.digitaltrends.com/[....]roid-patent-license-microsoft/
Posted by Away
Hardly evidence, and I can't find when this began, I know it wasn't even in 2012. Can someone find me when this happened? If it happened...
[ This Message was edited by: Away on 2013-06-20 15:58 ]
Posted by Tsepz_GP
I was just as surprised to be honest, but AFAIK, Microsoft has every manufacturer even the hardware makers involved with Android paying them royalties, with only Motorola outstanding now.
Posted by randomuser
Sony doesn't pay royalties to MS.
Read that long back ago, i'll post links if I find them.
Posted by Away
As far as I can see, all the stories are using the same guardian article as a source, which only mentions this in a list, so probably wrong. Android OEMs paying Microsoft the increasingly annoying company royalties has always hit the news. Sony definitely would have hit the news big time for this. If most dedicated tech sites are poor enough, we can only imagine how poor general news sites will be regarding tech.
By the way, if Nokia didn't team up with Microsoft, I'm sure they too would have not paid Microsoft.
Anyway, on topic, anyone have any idea when these guys will release their first phone?
Posted by Supa_Fly
On 2013-06-20 17:36:17, randomuser wrote:
Sony doesn't pay royalties to MS.
Read that long back ago, i'll post links if I find them.
Probably because Sony may not need to pay for the royalties ... most likely if their products are assembled or manufactured by Hon Hai .. parent to Foxtron ... the onus is on them not Sony??
http://www.fosspatents.com/20[....]parent-hon-hai-signs-with.html
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04[....]est-microsoft-patent-licensee/
Cheers.
Posted by Away
I thought that too, but that can't be the complete story. When Apple had to pay, they too used Foxconn, and this was a while ago. Foxconn have only had to start paying recently. So Sony's name can't be taken in that regard.
Microsoft is such a colossal fail. Lucky for them there is no competition in their main field, because they are a fail. Vista, windows 8. Every other major iteration just makes the previous one acceptable. So the next major iteration, windows 9 or whatever it will be called, will make windows worthwhile again.
A 1-2 years ago, they made more from Apple paying royalties than their own windows phone. How dependant.
[ This Message was edited by: Away on 2013-06-22 11:02 ]