Obi Worldphone

Last updated

Obi Worldphone
Company type Private
Industry Telecommunications equipment
Founded2014
FoundersNeeraj Chauhan
Shane Maine
Gordon McMillan
John Sculley
Defunct2018 [1]
Headquarters,
U.S.
Area served
Latin America
Saudi Arabia
Thailand
UAE
United Kingdom
Vietnam
ProductsObi SF1 (2015)
Obi SJ1.5 (2015)
Obi MV1 (2016)
Obi Lifespeed
Number of employees
70 (2016) [2]

Obi Worldphone, previously Obi Mobiles, was a Silicon Valley smartphone manufacturer founded in 2014 by Neeraj Chauhan, Shane Maine, Gordon McMillan, and John Sculley. [3] Obi Worldphone manufactures smartphones aimed at the emerging markets [4] rather than very competitive developed markets. [5] [6]

Contents

History

The company was launched as Obi Mobiles in 2014. Sculley saw a gap in the market for well-designed budget handsets and got in contact with former Director of Industrial Design, Robert Brunner (now a co-founder of Ammunition Design Group) who came up with the raised screen design found on all Obi smartphones. [7] Ammunition subsequently designed the chassis and operating system skin the phones run on, "Obi Lifespeed". [8]

Obi Mobiles started operations in India in July 2014. Following an unsuccessful launch, the company withdrew from India at the beginning of 2015 (with plans re-entering at the end of the year) and relaunched the brand as Obi Worldphone shortly after. [9]

The newly branded company launched two of their pioneer low cost smartphones on August 27, 2015. [10] Both models are based upon Android as their operating system. [10] Their third phone, the MV1, was announced in February 2016, and was released to Asian, African, Latin American and European markets in March 2016. [11] [12]

In July 2015, Obi had a 5.7% smartphone market share in the UAE, making it the company's strongest global market. [9]

In September 2017, Sculley distanced himself from Obi and said his name was used for PR only. [3]

Products

SF1

Launched on August 27, 2015, this phone with a raised 5-inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels at a PPI of 443 pixels per inch (PPI). [13] The phone comes with a self-developed fork of the Android Operating System called "Obi Lifespeed". [8] [14] The device also features Dolby Audio multi-channel audio, noise cancellation, and utilizes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor, an Adreno 405 GPU, and a 3000 mAh battery. It can access 4G networks. The device comes in 32GB + 3GB / 16GB + 2GB (respectively Storage and RAM) combinations, [14] and a choice of black or white. The initial retail price for the device is $199 and comes unlocked. [15]

SJ1.5

This device was launched at the same time as the SF1, and also has a 5-inch touchscreen display, however a lower resolution, lack of 4G, and lack of some luxuries lends this phone a cheaper $129 retail price. [15] The device is all plastics in a range of colors and comes with 16GB of storage and a 3,000 milliamps battery. [16] [17] Both the SF1 and SJ1.5 feature a dual SIM tray. [17]

MV1

The MV1 has a 5” Gorilla Glass 3 display with 1280 x 720 (HD) resolution, it runs on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 processor, 2GB of RAM, and 16 GB of Storage. It features a dual SIM tray.

Awards

In 2015, Obi Worldphone's SF1 was voted the 5th best smartphone available in Vietnam in VNExpress' "TechAwards 2015" (Sản phẩm Công nghệ xuất sắc 2015). [18] [19] [20]

See also

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References

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  10. 1 2 Curry, David (26 August 2015). "Former Apple CEO John Sculley launches two low-cost Android Smartphones". Digital Trends . Retrieved 31 August 2015.
  11. "Obi Worldphone MV1 detailed specifications" . Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  12. Tung, Liam (23 February 2016). "Ex-Apple CEO's Obi Worldphone launches $149 Android MV1 smartphone". ZDNet . Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  13. "Obi Worldphone SF1 detailed specifications" . Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  14. 1 2 "SF1". Obi Worldphone. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
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  18. "Obi Worldphone vào top 5 điện thoại tốt nhất 2015". VnExpress. 14 January 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  19. "Top 5 điện thoại xuất sắc của Tech Awards 2015". VnExpress. 13 January 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.
  20. "Obi Worldphone - OBI WORLDPHONE SF1 VINH DANH TOP 5 TECH AWARDS 2015 HẠNG MỤC ĐIỆN THOẠI". Obi Worldphone. 12 January 2016. Retrieved 12 May 2016.