Starting a phone company is surprisingly hard, some would say foolish. OSOM Products, a phone startup that emerged from the ashes of Essential in 2020, is shutting down. Android Authority first reported the news after gaining access to an internal announcement from CEO Jason Keats.
OSOM has always had a difficult road ahead of it when it comes to launching privacy-focused handsets. And like Essential before it, the company has dealt with its own legal issues, namely a lawsuit filed by a former employee alleging financial mismanagement.
The company did release a mobile device, but it wasn't the first-party phone it had announced. Instead, the company lent its technology to Solana's web3-centric device.
OSOM has managed to market a product under its own name. The OSOM Privacy Cable is essentially a USB cord that can disable data transfer in the presence of “juice jackers”.
“Android Authority’s report is correct: OSOM will sadly be shutting down. In May 2024, after a collaborative effort and no mobile phone customers, OSOM decided to shift to new projects at that time,” CEO Jason Keats said in a statement to TechCrunch. “OSOM was forced to lay off several employees at that time to reduce attrition.”
The “new project” appears to refer to an “AI-powered camera” planned as a successor to the unreleased smartphone. Earlier reports suggested Kitts had tried to sell the company to HP, but a deal fell through.
“Unfortunately, given the bleak market environment for funding for consumer electronics startups, we have not been able to raise a new round,” Kitts said. “While some maintenance work is underway to ensure contractual requirements are met, OSOM’s normal operations will end on September 6.”
