Citing unforeseen delays on both the production and delivery front, Yota Devices announced that the YotaPhone 2, its hybrid e-ink and normal display smartphone, will not be coming to North America and therefore not shipping to Canada. The news comes just days after the company successfully concluded a crowdfunding campaign that asked backers for their help in bringing the phone to North America.
In an email sent to Indiegogo backers and obtained by The Verge, the company blames its manufacturing partner for the cancelation.
“The reason for our cancelled launch is due to unforeseen delays including both production and delivery of the North American variant of YotaPhone 2 from our manufacturer,” says the email. “This despite spending months finalizing and securing the deal to bring to life the North American variant of YotaPhone 2, and when we launched this campaign we were confident our supplier would be able to follow through with their commitment.”
It goes on to say, “our leadership team, including our CEO, met with the manufacturer last week in a last-ditch effort to find a solution but the logistics were insurmountable and the device would simply arrive too late. In turn, we believe that the likelihood of a severe delay in these shipments would have created a conflict with our international road map for 2016, leaving Indiegogo supporters behind when customers in other regions will be offered a newer, cheaper and better YotaPhone.”
To make up for the cancelation, the company is providing backers with two options. They can either opt to receive the international version of the phone, which does not support North American LTE bands, or they can request a refund. For the latter option, Yota Devices says it’s still in the process of finalizing how refunds will work.
The YotaPhone 2’s crowdfunding campaign raised $298,058 USD when it closed on July 26. Potential backers were asked to put a minimum of $500 to secure themselves the phone. If there’s any upside to the situation, it’s that Yota says they’ve secured a new manufacturer for its next release.
[source]The Verge[/source]
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