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Sendo in administration!

23 replies · 3,685 views · Started 29 June 2005

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 15:26

I had no idea. Apparently it was first in the UK press on Sunday, but I knew nothing until I got tipped off earlier this afternoon.

elp 29 Jun 2005, 15:33

Question from a non native english speaker: what does this administration mean? Financial problems? The end of Sendo? Or am i totally wrong?

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 15:37

elp wrote:Question from a non native english speaker: what does this administration mean? Financial problems? The end of Sendo? Or am i totally wrong?

Administration essentially means they can't continue to trade, as they have no money left. They're basically what you might call "bust".

It may be possible for them to find a buyer or backer to enable them to resume trading, but failing that, the company will probably be broken up and the assets sold off.

elp 29 Jun 2005, 15:59

Masamune wrote:Either, you can definately file it under "Bad News".

Alright, so for the first time in 5 years (and 5 phones), i finally find a phone that is actually usable for that i want to do, cleverly designed and well supported, that doesn't have any problems making me want to throw it away at the first occasion and 2 months later the company goes burst 😞

When i see companies like Samsung making billions with overpriced piece of junk phones such as the D500 and great companies such as Sendo going burst, i really don't understand what's going on here.

Nikyzf 29 Jun 2005, 16:11

stuclark wrote:I'm sure Sendo feel the same way!

Is this related to the MicroShaft partnership and its acrimonious dissolution? Just what was the settlement? Does anyone know?

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 16:21

Nikyzf wrote:Is this related to the MicroShaft partnership and its acrimonious dissolution? Just what was the settlement? Does anyone know?

I doubt it. That was settled last year, and as I understand it, Microsoft relinquished all their interests in Sendo, plus giving them some form of pay off.

I doubt that legal battle helped though.

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 17:39

elp wrote:Motorola is buying the R&D department but nothing else according to the Inquirer (http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=24275). Does this means that the X2 can already be considered as a collector?

The enquirer does seem to be right on top of this story, the first firm news of the administration came from them (and they were right about that)

IF Moto do buy out R&D, then the series 60 work Sendo have been doing on X and X2 form a large part of that. As Moto have repeatedly said they'll produce phones based on whatever operating system best suits them, then it's possible we'll see some Moto handsets come out of what used to be Sendo which may well feature a lot of the nice features of Now! and the X2.

Getting back to the original question though - it's not looking good for X2 as far as I can see at the moment, unless one of the networks which has already agreed to take it brand the phone as their own (i.e. taking on the warranty and support issues for the phone)

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 18:50

Masamune wrote:D'oh! WHY did it have to be Motorola? They're only interested in Windows mobile, not Symbian!

What about their UIQ phones?

(would be a pity if Now! was ported to UIQ though, as I can't *stand* UIQ)

elp 29 Jun 2005, 19:05

Masamune wrote:D'oh! WHY did it have to be Motorola? They're only interested in Windows mobile, not Symbian!

Actually, i was saying the other day in a French forum that i was very surprised that Apple teamed up with Motorola to create the iPhone since i didn't really see what they had in common. Plus Moto seems to quite like Windows Mobile, which is certainly not something that Apple would like to see on a future iSmartphone.

My opinion was that Sendo would have been a much better partner for Apple since they share this vision of things well done and user-oriented and Sendo was already into music phones (and Sendo and Apple can be both considered as outsiders too 😊

And today, Moto buys the Sendo R&D. This makes sense to me: Motorola is going to drop Windows and start all over again with Sendo technology. What about an iSmartphone running Symbian and called Motorola X3?

Please note that i do not know anything about the mobile phone market and that what i've just said is probably pure non-sense 😉

stuclark 29 Jun 2005, 19:20

elp wrote:Actually, i was saying the other day in a French forum that i was very surprised that Apple teamed up with Motorola to create the iPhone since i didn't really see what they had in common. Plus Moto seems to quite like Windows Mobile, which is certainly not something that Apple would like to see on a future iSmartphone.

My opinion was that Sendo would have been a much better partner for Apple since they share this vision of things well done and user-oriented and Sendo was already into music phones (and Sendo and Apple can be both considered as outsiders too 😊

And today, Moto buys the Sendo R&D. This makes sense to me: Motorola is going to drop Windows and start all over again with Sendo technology. What about an iSmartphone running Symbian and called Motorola X3?

Please note that i do not know anything about the mobile phone market and that what i've just said is probably pure non-sense 😉


What you've said certainly IS possible!

Motorola obviously like something they see at Sendo, and I doubt Sendo got to keep any of their Windows based patents aftr the breakup with Microsoft. Therefore it follows that Moto must be after some Series 60 patents. 😊

trimakassi 29 Jun 2005, 19:35

Wow...never saw that one coming. I was really curious to see what was going to happen to a future X3 (purely Sendo based ofcourse). Ah well, I'll just stick with my "new" collectors item... 😃 (No, not the X2...)

langdona 29 Jun 2005, 19:41

I too can't see what experience Motorola would gain apart from the Series 60 stuff. After all their MPX range of Microsoft Smartphones have not been a great success. It would just be another Motorola change of smartphone direction and series 60 is about the only one it has not tried yet. So it may be a possibility.

Its a shame about Sendo though.

Kirkton 29 Jun 2005, 21:20

Hi there

I think that your all missing one thing, suppose motorola aren't really interested in the symbian OS but in the hardware with the custom chips. The series 60 patents might just be a bonus.

If motorola is interested in the hardware then good on them, I think motorola phones aren't that good (not the ones I've had they need some good designed hardware) here's hoping that they release the X2. 😉

There must be a warehouse somewhere with a pile of X2's waiting to be put in use. 😃

langdona 30 Jun 2005, 11:51

stuclark wrote:Unfortunately, I don't think the X2 will get out the door now 😞

This seems to be backed up by this Register article that discusses why Sendo went tits up. Apparently the Sendo Series 60 licence was not part of the takeover deal. So unless Motorola agree a new deal with Nokia for Series 60 (unlikely I think) the X is dead and the X2 aborted.

Apparently the reason why Motorola wanted Sendo was

The software they want is the software which allowed Sendo to configure a phone for people like Orange for Orangeworld - but almost more important, is getting the people at Sendo who knew how to configure that software.

prunus 02 Jul 2005, 00:05

If the x2 will vanish, why is the only thing that remains in the official site of sendo?

I have hope, for some reasons: first i want the warranty of the phone, and second, this new firmware have several bugs.

stuclark 02 Jul 2005, 11:24

The only chance for the X2 is if one of the networks which had agreed to take the phone brands it as their own, and takes on all the associated costs and responsibilities.

Some people at Sendo are trying to look into the bugs in the latest firmware (specifically the GPRS bug), but I don't know if they will be able to get another release out.