Neonode AB, maker of the N2, files for bankruptcy

Neonode AB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Neonode, Inc., has filed a petition for bankruptcy in Sweden. The company, which has focused almost all of its efforts on pushing the now aged Neonode N2 since 2004, finally caved after looking so vulnerable in late July. According to Per Bystedt, CEO and Chairman of Neonode: "For the past six months we have focused on turning the business around and solving the financial situation of Neonode AB; we continue to have great belief in our technology and believe we have a competitive product in the Neonode N2 but without sufficient funds we cannot continue operations." No word of a revamped OS. No word of hardware tweaks. Nothing that sounds to us like they really want to survive in today's high-stakes handset market. At any rate, the parent company is hoping to trudge on as a technology licensing company, with or without Mr. N2.

[Via GeekZone]

[Abdo @ Dec 10th 2008 9:02AM]

Shame, they looked promising. Living in Sweden, I've only seen one person with one of these, a couple years ago. They stopped selling them a while back.

[ijyt @ Dec 10th 2008 9:06AM]

That actually looks like a neat little product.

[Mehul @ Dec 10th 2008 9:23AM]

if you've ever seen one in person, you'd appreciate it even more. Is is impossibly tiny, gorgeous and unique. And for a 2-3 year old design, it still looks fresh.

Its a shame that no carrier picked it up in US. I think it would have been a good seller. Especially because it came before the iphone.

[Jakob @ Dec 10th 2008 9:25AM]

"if you've ever seen one in person, you'd appreciate it even more. Is is impossibly tiny, gorgeous and unique. And for a 20-30 year old design, it still looks fresh."
What you say about Scandinavian girls!

[Flashpoint @ Dec 10th 2008 9:11AM]

"DIE MR. BOND !!!!!!!!"

[OwlExterminator @ Dec 10th 2008 9:17AM]

No support, no surprise.

This is why consumers should stick to established mobile manufacture company's that constantly and thoroughly dole out the updates in a timely manner.

Touch screen devices are dependent on firmware upgrades, and there is only 1Phone that delivers.

This thing looks more of a glorified garage door opener than that of a mobile device, too bad there is no device that allows the user to design personal UI's

[ijyt @ Dec 10th 2008 9:28AM]

1Phone, iPhone. I get it!


Now get out.

[chefgon_ign @ Dec 10th 2008 9:40AM]

Be careful what you wish for, you might have to admit that Windows Mobile allows for custom UI.

[Rob @ Dec 10th 2008 9:18AM]

I guess the Neo wasn't the One.

[giuliop @ Dec 10th 2008 9:43AM]

Well, it's called N2, you couldn't really expect it to be the 1, could you?

[Kris120890 @ Dec 10th 2008 9:20AM]

Never heard of them to be honest but if they haven't had a product in a while then its hardly a surprise.

[giuliop @ Dec 10th 2008 9:28AM]

"No word of a revamped OS. No word of hardware tweaks. Nothing that sounds to us like they really want to survive in today's high-stakes handset market."

Yeah, because to make hardware tweaks and a revamped OS, and in general to survive, you don't need funds; you need the power of the will.

[Argot @ Dec 10th 2008 1:03PM]

Samsung, Apple, Sony Ericsson and all the other companies that now makes touch phones owe this company a great deal of gratitude. Neonode showed them the way.

[Christopher @ Dec 10th 2008 1:55PM]

Neonode were pimping this little phone at Midem last January. I got to play with one at the little demo stand they had, and although quite drunk at the time I still managed to do a fairly thorough whip through of the UI and asked the important questions.

I was all set to love this device, considering it was a fairly good price even before the Midem discount they were offering. (I had a Vario 2 at the time, which I still have!) Unfortunately, what made the Nenode a non-starter for me:

• Windows CE, not Windows Mobile
• The touchscreen was 'odd' - it detected your finger's motion across the screen instead of it being a plain ole resistive screen, I think it was a Projected Capacitive screen certainly by the way the rep described it. To use it you just swiped lightly with your finger - no heavy tapping or pressing needed, but it was a little too 'dainty' for me
• GPRS ONLY - the lack of any kind of 3G was the real buzzkiller for me
• Really quite tiny! I'd probably put it in my back pocket, sit on it and break it far too quickly.
• No keyboard (dur), too fiddly to input characters

plus • their custom UI was nice, but I couldn't see any way to rejig or improve upon it. I don't want to conform to somebody else's paradigm, I want to continue with my own thank you please! At least if I get a device with HTC TouchFlo, I can disable it if I want and bingo, back to the regular WinMo start screen (you laugh, but I have a nice theme and I have loads of info which I need all the time staring me in the face, a much better use of the space).



If I'd had the cash, it would've been a great second phone to play with, but aside from the smaller flaws it was the underlying age of the tech which disinterested me. Shame, because it was a nice design and had an ok heft to it considering the size of the device. Unusual styling, too.

[Christopher @ Dec 10th 2008 2:01PM]

Small addition to my first post - was slightly out on the touchscreen description. I coulda sworn that it was something funky, and indeed it was - remember now, it employed IR sensors in the X + Y axes to calculate your finger's position, and you could do context-sensitive stuff depending on whether you pressed the screen when swiping or whether you held your finger above the screen and swiped. Clever, but again, a bit too dainty for me. When I need to find a number and dial it quickly with my phone when driving, I much prefer the scrollwheel on the left over swiping repeatedly just over the surface of the screen (and then if your finger knocks the screen when you go over a bump / hit a homeless person / drive off a cliff etc, you have to start all over again)

I'm sure it was ludicrously clever stuff, the rep was adamant that it was technology unlike that in any other touchscreen phone. I think they got a patent for it eventually but I've not heard of any companies using it.

[Kueller @ Dec 10th 2008 2:13PM]

Well, you probably wouldn't have to start over again if you drove off a cliff...

[Lien @ Dec 10th 2008 6:07PM]

All I have to say is good riddance!

I work at a retailer which used to carry this phone in Sweden, and trust me, the N2 was a complete mess. It sure looked like an awesome phone but the buggy UI made it highly impractical, text messaging for example was a serious pain.
A friend of mine bought one and after just 2 days it crashed on him. He called the support number and they refused to admit that the handset had any flaws. I later learned that a high percentage of the N2 had many critical flaws which pretty much bricked it.

R.I.P Neonode, you will not be missed.