Essential products, a smartphone start-up founded by Andy Rubin, the father of Android, has shut down.
The company said it had "made a difficult decision to stop operations". In a blog post on Wednesday, essential said it was pushing ahead with project gem phones with mini screens and new software platforms as much as possible, but ultimately felt "there was no clear way to deliver it to customers.".
Rubin, who previously led Google's Android mobile software business for many years, left the Internet giant in 2014 after being accused of sexual harassment by an employee. Google's investigation found the charges credible and asked him to resign, but still offered $90 million in severance compensation. This sparked protests by thousands of Google employees and at least one lawsuit against the company. Rubin denied wrongdoing.
Essential received more than $300 million in financing from Redpoint Ventures, Altimeter Capital, Tencent holdings and Foxconn. Rubin's startup incubator, playground global, is also a supporter.
The start-up was one of the first to use full screen design for smartphones, and technology giants such as apple and Samsung have followed suit. Essential's equipment didn't sell well in the early stages, so it started to cut staff and sought to sell.
