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Kazam! Just like magic, a new smart phone maker has appeared. Kazam is a UK-based brand of blower founded by former HTC execs — and is absolutely not to be confused with Kazaam, the mid-90s Shaquille O’Neal vehicle in which the gigantic basketballer plays a hip-hop loving genie.
So don’t confuse them. Forget I made that reference. And don’t watch the video I’ve embedded below.
Michael Coombes and James Atkins jumped ship earlier this year when HTC’s UK chief Phil Roberson left the company, just before the launch of the HTC One. Atkins was formerly UK head of marketing and Coombes UK head of sales for the troubled Taiwanese phone maker, which has shed execs left, right and centre this year.
They’ve teamed up to start a new company based in London — Kazaam! Sorry, Kazam. They don’t have any hardware to display yet, but they do have a philosophy.
“We believe your smart phone is a digital reflection of who you are, and since we are all different, it’s important that we don’t adopt a one size fits all approach,” said Coombes, who’s Kazam’s CEO. “We aim to provide quality smart phones that are accessible to everyone.”
“There is a real opportunity for a new mobile brand to disrupt the status quo,” reckons Atkins, the company’s chief marketing officer. “We are passionate about delivering a truly positive mobile experience that doesn’t just stop once you’ve bought the phone. Kazam is about stunning design, robust hardware and intuitive technology, underpinned by outstanding customer service.”
Kazam aims to have unveiled phones by the end of the year. It’ll sell them throughout Europe, but there are no other details, such as which operating system they’ll use or who will make them. If I had to guess, I’d say “accessible to everyone” means skinned Android, and “robust hardware” means mid-range phones built in Taiwan by contacts they made in their HTC days.
But we’ll see, maybe they’ll deliver something really new and different. In the meantime, let’s enjoy a bit of Shaq.
