Seeing no clear path to bring its weird GEM concept phone to market, Andy Rubin’s Essential abruptly stopped being a company earlier this week. Now, by complete coincidence, a bundle of Essential swag has appeared for sale on eBay — including an unreleased charging dock.
In addition to the dock, the sale includes an Essential Phone in Ocean Depths blue plus Essential’s clip-on 360-degree camera, a case for that camera, a headphone adapter, and a pair of earbuds. All the items are unopened except the audio adapter and the dock, which is visibly worn.
Given the timing and the fact that the sale includes an unreleased prototype, it seems possible (probable, even!) that the listing was posted by someone with ties to the company who saw its folding as an opportune time to make a buck. As of writing, the auction is up to $535 with 39 bids. If you’re interested in owning a weird piece of smartphone history, hit up the link below and place your bid. You’ve got until 5:59 p.m., Eastern on February 20.
I’m sure many of you were chomping at the bits to own this piece of smartphone history, but sadly, the listing is no longer available. The page now says the listing was “ended by the seller because the item is no longer available.”
Since the dock was a prototype, it’s possible the owner was in a legal grey area by attempting to sell an unreleased product. At least we know about the dock’s existence now, so that’s neat.
https://www.androidpolice.com/2020/02/14/buy-the-essential-phone-dock-that-was-never-released-from-a-probably-ex-employee-on-ebay/
