BQ (company)

Last updated
BQ
Company typeSociedad Limitada
FoundedMadrid, Spain
Headquarters
Las Rozas de Madrid (Community of Madrid)
,
Spain
Products Smartphones, Tablets, e-readers and 3D printers
Number of employees
1,028 (2014)
Website www.bq.com

BQ (former name: Mundo Reader) was a Spanish company brand of user electronics devices, such as smartphones, tablets, e-readers and 3D printers among other products.

Contents

Among BQ's most notable products are the first AndroidOne mobile phone in Europe (the BQ Aquaris A4.5), [1] [2] [3] as well as both the world's first mobile phone and tablet running the Ubuntu Phone operating system, (the BQ Aquaris E4.5 and BQ Aquaris M10). [4] [5] [6] [7] In 2018, the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup acquired 51% share of BQ and active in Vietnam under the name of VinSmart. [8]

History

The company started its business in 2009 importing e-readers from Asia. [9] In 2010 it started to produce its own tablets and e-readers. [9]

In 2013, the company had 600 employees and it produced 400,000 tablets and 100,000 e-readers. [10]

In 2014, the company entered the Portuguese market. [11]

In 2015, the company produced a smartphone (BQ Aquaris E4.5 Ubuntu Edition) that runs the Ubuntu operating system. [12]

In 2016, the company released the BQ Aquaris M10 Ubuntu Edition tablet. [13]

By 2020, bq appears no longer to be in the phone market, with all devices removed from the company's web-page. The English language home-page now presents Robotics, 3D-printing and product development consulting as the focus of the company, at least internationally.

In 2021 their web-page informed visitors that it had ceased business operations and only made available links to software downloads for the 3D-printer Witbox Go and to their educational offerings.

Revenue, by year:

Mobile phones and tablets

AndroidOne:

Android high-end:

Android mid-range:

Android Cyanogen:

Ubuntu Phone:

Other:

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tablet computer</span> Mobile computer with integrated display, circuitry and battery

A tablet computer, commonly shortened to tablet, is a mobile device, typically with a mobile operating system and touchscreen display processing circuitry, and a rechargeable battery in a single, thin and flat package. Tablets, being computers, have similar capabilities, but lack some input/output (I/O) abilities that others have. Modern tablets largely resemble modern smartphones, the only differences being that tablets are relatively larger than smartphones, with screens 7 inches (18 cm) or larger, measured diagonally, and may not support access to a cellular network. Unlike laptops, tablets usually run mobile operating systems, alongside smartphones.

A mobile operating system is an operating system used for smartphones, tablets, smartwatches, smartglasses, or other non-laptop personal mobile computing devices. While computers such as typical/mobile laptops are "mobile", the operating systems used on them are generally not considered mobile, as they were originally designed for desktop computers that historically did not have or need specific mobile features. This line distinguishing mobile and other forms has become blurred in recent years, due to the fact that newer devices have become smaller and more mobile unlike hardware of the past. Key notabilities blurring this line are the introduction of tablet computers, light-weight laptops, and the hybridization of the two in 2-in-1 PCs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Xperia</span> Smartphone brand from Sony Mobile Communications

Xperia is a series of and the sole brand name of smartphones marketed by Sony. It also includes various related mobile hardware such as tablets as well as software. Xperia was originally developed by Sony Ericsson before becoming Sony Mobile as a result of the mobile phone manufacturer being taken over and solely owned by Sony in 2012; it has been under Sony Corporation since 2021 following Sony Mobile's merger. The name Xperia is derived from the word "experience", and was first used in the Xperia X1 tagline of "I Xperia the best".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Motorola Atrix 4G</span> Android smartphone developed by Motorola Mobility

The Motorola Atrix 4G is an Android-based smartphone developed by Motorola, introduced at CES 2011 along with the Motorola Xoom, Motorola Droid Bionic, and Motorola Cliq 2 on January 5, 2011. It was made available in the first quarter of 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Samsung Galaxy Mini</span> 2011 smartphone

The Samsung Galaxy Mini (GT-S5570[B/L/i]) is a smartphone manufactured by Samsung that runs the Android operating system. It was announced and released by Samsung in early 2011. In some markets it is known as Samsung Galaxy Next/Pop/NG, while it is sold in the United States as the Samsung Dart exclusively for T-Mobile. It is currently available in four different colors; steel grey, white, lime and orange. With this release, the face buttons were changed to capacitive touch, matching the rest of the Galaxy lineup.

Dragontrail is an alkali-aluminosilicate sheet glass manufactured by AGC Inc. It is engineered for a combination of thinness, lightness and damage-resistance, similarly to Corning's proprietary Gorilla Glass. The material's primary properties are its strength, allowing thin glass without fragility; its high scratch resistance; and its hardness – with a Vickers hardness test rating of 595 to 673.

Atom is a system on a chip (SoC) platform designed for smartphones and tablet computers, launched by Intel in 2012. It is a continuation of the partnership announced by Intel and Google on September 13, 2011 to provide support for the Android operating system on Intel x86 processors. This range competes with existing SoCs developed for the smartphone and tablet market from companies such as Texas Instruments, Nvidia, Qualcomm and Samsung. Unlike these companies, which use ARM-based CPUs designed from the beginning to consume very low power, Intel has adapted the x86-based Intel Atom line of CPU developed for low power usage in netbooks, to even lower power usage.

The Sony Xperia miro is a mid-range Android smartphone manufactured and developed by Sony Mobile Communications. The device was released globally during the third quarter of 2012. The device is available in colours black, pink, white with silver and white with gold. However, not all colours are available in all countries.

The following is a comparison of high-definition smartphone displays, containing information about their specific screen technology, resolution, size and pixel density. It is divided into three categories, containing smartphones with 720p, 1080p and 1440p displays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ubuntu Touch</span> Mobile interface for Ubuntu developed by Canonical Ltd.

Ubuntu Touch is a mobile version of the Ubuntu operating system, being developed by the UBports community. Its user interface is written in Qt, and is designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers, but the original goal of convergence was intended to bring Ubuntu Touch to laptops, desktops, IOT devices and TVs for a complete unified user experience.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">AOKP</span> Mobile operating system

AOKP, short for Android Open Kang Project, is an open-source replacement distribution for smartphones and tablet computers based on the Android mobile operating system. The name is a play on the word kang and AOSP. The name was a joke, but it stuck. It was started as free and open-source software by Roman Birg based on the official releases of Android Open Source Project by Google, with added original and third-party code, features, and control.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OnePlus One</span> Android Smartphone

The OnePlus One is an Android smartphone manufactured by OnePlus. Unveiled in April 2014, it is the first product by OnePlus. The OnePlus One was designed to compare favorably – in performance, quality, and price – to flagship devices by leading smartphone manufacturers. It was also intended to be developer friendly, and has since received a wide variety of ROMs and custom kernels from the community. The OnePlus One shipped to most markets with the Cyanogen OS operating system pre-installed, a commercial variant of CyanogenMod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Android One</span> Line of smartphones that run the unmodified Android operating system

Android One is a family of third-party Android smartphones promoted by Google. In comparison to many third-party Android devices, which ship with a manufacturer's customized user interface and bundled apps, these devices run near-stock versions of Android with limited modifications, and a focus on Google services. Devices that run Android One receive OS updates for at least two years after their release, and security patches for at least three years.

Laptop–tablet convergence describes the tendency in recent years for laptops and tablet computers to converge technologically.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BQ Aquaris E4.5</span> Spanish Android smartphone

The BQ Aquaris E4.5 is an Android smartphone from the Spanish manufacturer BQ that was released to market in June 2014 as a budget dual-SIM phone. The device shipped with Android versions starting from v4.0 and can be updated to Android 4.4.2 (KitKat). BQ elected not to skin the operating system and as such it retains the unmodified "Google Experience".

The Aquaris E5 and Aquaris E5 FHD are dual-SIM Android smartphones from the Spanish manufacturer BQ that were released to market in July 2014. The devices shipped with Android 4.4 (KitKat). BQ elected not to skin the operating system and as such it retains the unmodified "Google Experience", such as found on the Google Nexus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BQ Aquaris M10</span> Android tablet

The Aquaris M10 and Aquaris M10 FHD are Android tablets from the Spanish manufacturer BQ that were released to market in October 2015. The devices shipped with Android 5.1 (Lollipop). BQ elected not to skin the operating system and as such it retains the unmodified "Google Experience", such as found on the Google Nexus.

postmarketOS Free and open-source operating system for smartphones, based on Alpine Linux

postmarketOS is an operating system primarily for smartphones, based on the Alpine Linux distribution.

References

  1. ↑ "Android One Enters Europe With BQ Aquaris A4.5". GadgetsNDTV. Retrieved 18 Sep 2015.
  2. ↑ "Google is launching Android One in Spain and it's going to be way more expensive than expected". BusinessInsider. Retrieved 21 Sep 2015.
  3. ↑ "Android One-Powered BQ Aquaris A4.5 Gets Two Years Of Google Support". TomsHardware. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 18 Sep 2015.
  4. ↑ "First Ubuntu Phone with 'Convergence' Is Being Made by Bq". OmgUbuntu. June 2015. Retrieved 1 Jun 2015.
  5. ↑ "First Ubuntu smartphone, Aquaris E4.5, launches into cluttered mobile market". ZdNet. Retrieved 6 Feb 2015.
  6. ↑ "Canonical Launches First Ubuntu Phone With Spain's BQ". GadgetsNDTV. Retrieved 9 Feb 2015.
  7. ↑ "BQ And Canonical Launch The Second Ubuntu Phone". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2 Jun 2015.
  8. ↑ "Vingroup bất ngờ công bố đã mua 51% công ty smartphone Tây Ban Nha, sẽ ra mắt 4 mẫu máy vào 14/12 tới". 3 December 2018.
  9. 1 2 3 4 5 E. Arrieta (December 12, 2013). "El fabricante de tabletas BQ contratará a 400 personas,Empresas y Finanzas". Expansion.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  10. 1 2 Marimar Jimenez (November 27, 2014). "La española BQ presume de sus ventas millonarias de 'smartphones'". Cincodias.com. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  11. ↑ "Spain's bq expects to sell 100,000 smartphones in Portugal - Telecompaper". Telecompaper.com. May 23, 2014. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
  12. ↑ "Ubuntu smartphone offers alternative to apps". BBC News. 6 February 2015. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  13. ↑ "Canonical fulfills its Linux convergence vision". betanews. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  14. ↑ Ramón Muñóz (25 May 2015). "BQ: Móviles con la marca España". El Pais. Retrieved 2 August 2015.
  15. ↑ "BQ Aquaris X Pro - Full Spec - GsmArena". GsmArena.
  16. ↑ "BQ Aquaris X - Full Spec - GsmArena". GsmArena.
  17. ↑ "BQ Aquaris X5 Plus - Full Spec - GsmArena". GsmArena.
  18. 1 2 "BQ Aquaris X5 - Full Spec - GsmArena". GsmArena.
  19. 1 2 "BQ Aquaris M5 - Full Spec - GsmArena". GsmArena.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.