Essential Phone Release Date, Delay News: Key Executives Leave the Company as Launch Date Remains in Limbo
There's some shuffling of seats going on in the upper levels of Essential, the phone maker startup hoping to bring the Essential Phone to the market. Executives have left the company for other jobs, perhaps contributing to the delay of the company's flagship device.
While Android fans and media await news of a firm release date of the highly anticipated phone, several key figures have left the startup built by Google Android creator Andy Rubin. Could this talent drain contribute to the delays of the Essential Phone?
The company's Vice President of Marketing has left for another job, barely over a month after the Essential Phone has been revealed, according to Business Insider.
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Brian Wallace is now the Chief Marketing Officer for Will.I.Am's company, called i.am+, an entity described as a "connected lifestyle" group making fashion technology products including earphones, watches, and phone accessories.
Wallace's move to jump ship even before the launch of Essential's first product is seen by some as a sign of trouble for the startup, an opinion supported by news of another Essential communicator leaving the company.
Andy Fouché, who was the head of communications for Essential as well as an advisor to the board, also left the company in June. His departure spurred Essential to have Kenzo Hing, head of product marketing, pull double duty as communications head for now.
Earlier this year, the company has revealed the Essential Phone, a phone line-up described as an ambitious undertaking to bring a modular phone to the market. After the May 30 unveiling, Essential has committed to a June launch date for their first handset in the United States.
The company has missed their announced launch window, however, and they have not made a statement about a clear release date.
So far, the company has simply described the U.S. launch date for the phone as "imminent," as Niccolo de Masi, Essential's Chief Operating Officer, said in an interview with the Financial Times via The Verge.
