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Sendo

From Alfawiki
Sendo
Company typePublic
Founded1998
FounderHugh Brogan
Defunct29 June 2005 (2005-06-29)
Headquarters
Birmingham, England
Key people
Hugh Brogan (CEO), Justin Small (UX Design Lead), Robert Pocknell (Group General Counsel)
Number of employees
300

Sendo was a UK-based mobile phone manufacturer established in 1998 and headquartered in Birmingham. The company focused on producing affordable handsets tailored for the pay-as-you-go segment, as well as premium Symbian smartphones.

In 2005, Sendo entered administration, with its technological assets subsequently acquired by Motorola.

History

Sendo was founded in 1998 by seasoned professionals formerly associated with Philips and Motorola. The company gained significant attention in February 2001 when Microsoft invested $12 million for a 10% equity stake and secured seats on the board. Positioned as Microsoft's primary partner for launching the Stinger smartphone platform (which evolved into Smartphone 2002), Sendo was slated to receive the StingerOS code by June, enabling development of the prototype Sendo Z100.

Although Microsoft provided a software development kit (SDK), it failed to deliver adequate source code by December, leaving Sendo without market-ready products or sufficient investment prospects. As a result, Sendo terminated its collaboration with Microsoft and redirected efforts toward Symbian OS but ultimately filed for bankruptcy.

The partnership agreement stipulated that if Sendo became insolvent, Microsoft would gain a royalty-free license to use Sendo's Z100 intellectual property, including rights to manufacture and sublicense. A device based on the Z100 design was launched by Orange as the Orange SPV 100, produced by HTC under the name HTC Canary, recognized as the first Windows Mobile smartphone.

In December 2002, Sendo filed suit against Microsoft alleging unauthorized use of proprietary technology and trade secrets; Microsoft denied these claims and countered with a breach of contract lawsuit. The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in September 2004 involving financial terms and Microsoft relinquishing its stake in Sendo. Following this, in June 2006, Sendo initiated legal action against Orange.

By September 2003, all litigation between Sendo and Microsoft had been dropped, with Microsoft divesting its shares.

In 2004, Sendo achieved sales of around five million handsets and investigated incorporating Nvidia's GoForce graphics processors in collaboration with other manufacturers.

In March 2005, Sendo lodged a complaint with the European Commission against Ericsson, citing patent infringements and licensing disputes amid ongoing litigation.

After entering administration in June 2005, Motorola acquired Sendo's technology portfolio, which included approximately 50 granted patents along with 40 pending applications.

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