Bad news for those who still trusted the original ideas of Andy Rubin , the renowned creator of the Android operating system who now commanded his own adventure through the Essential firm . And it is that in the last day it has been confirmed that the start-up will close its doors definitively .

Essential was one of the novelties of the market during 2017 with great promise for its future, and that is that it had in front of one of the most important drivers of Google’s success in the mobile industry. Such was the case that it raised around $ 330 million in external financing , although in practice it never managed to arouse real interest among consumers.

Essential and a short life on the market: Andy Rubin’s start-up Essential, ceases operations

This was the Essential Phone, the only launch of the startup

Reviewing its brief history, during the months leading up to the launch of its first (and finally only) Smartphone there was a great expectation that led to Essential being valued at approximately one billion dollars. However, the launch of the Essential Phone was a resounding failure and put their future plans in check .

During the following months it became known that the development of a smart speaker had been canceled, as well as rumors of a possible sale of the firm by Andy Rubin to other companies, including alleged interests of Amazon, Walmart and different firms telecommunications.

Thus, by the end of 2018 it became known that the number of employees had dropped considerably, from 120 to less than 50 workers, so it was also surprising when at the end of last year the first images of a conceptual design of a new smartphone were published ( Project Gem ), which will obviously never materialize.

Finally, the start-up will cease operations to confirm how difficult it is to achieve success in the hardware field compared to independent software development . Reviewing the history there are very few examples of firms that came to earn a place in the market, such is the case of Fitbit in the area of ​​wearables or Nest in smart home devices, although they were soon acquired by a giant such as Google.