Jason Dunn
09-27-2006, 08:45 PM
Jim Morrison, CEO and founder of I-Mate, just finished presenting at Mobius 2006 in Boston, and Mike Temporale is down there now feeding me some bits and pieces of info over IM. First, he tells me that the legendary ugliness of the I-Mate JAQ was no accident. Morrison told the Mobius attendees that their enterprise customers wanted an ugly device that employees would work with it at the office, but wouldn't take it out to the pub because it's so ugly - and hence it wouldn't be stolen. Seems like curious logic to me, but it seems to explain a few things.Over the next 12 months, I-Mate is launching 15 devices that are exclusive to their brand. I believe they'll all be TechFaith Wireless-designed devices, since I-Mate is no longer working with HTC. Most of the devices will be Pocket PC Phone devices, though some will be Smartphone devices. The devices will be broken into three different classes: Ultimate (top geek gadgets, think Jasjar), Stealth (mid-level devices), and Light (low-end, less expensive devices).More to come from Mike Temporale at Mobius Boston continues to unfold.