Outdated Cell Phone Service to Close

0




Editor’s Note:

A longer version of this story appeared in the Aug. 25 print edition.


When Teleflip debuted in 2005, the Santa Monica-based company that promised e-mail on cell phones made quite a splash, receiving glowing praise from the tech media and Wall Street analysts.

Now Chief Executive Tony Davis has announced that it looks like it is time to hang it up on that service.

Davis e-mailed subscribers Aug. 12 to say the company, which had as many as 25 employees at the beginning of the year but is down to a handful now, was pulling the plug on Flipmail, its main service.

“We’re definitely in a downsizing mode to preserve the value of the company,” Davis told the Business Journal. He said the company was exploring its options, which could include selling its technology to another company.

One problem for Teleflip, analysts said, is that technology passed it by.

Many cell phones, particularly so-called “smart phones,” now can give users close to the same look and service that they have with their desktop computer email programs. In contrast, Teleflip had to break down even short e-mails into several separate text messages.

No posts to display