Essential Products (marketed as Essential) was an American

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

company and manufacturer founded on November 9, 2015, by

Andy Rubin Andrew E. Rubin is an American computer programmer, entrepreneur, and venture capitalist. Rubin founded Android Inc. in 2003, which was acquired by Google in 2005; Rubin served as a Google vice president for 9 years and led Google's efforts in ...

and based in

Palo Alto Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. The city was estab ...

. The company developed, manufactured, and sold

Essential Phone The Essential Phone (officially Phone or PH-1) is a discontinued Android smartphone designed by Android co-founder Andy Rubin, and manufactured, developed and marketed by Essential Products. The phone was announced on May 30, 2017 and released ...

and accessories for it, including 360 Camera for Essential Phone. The company closed on February 12, 2020, stating that it was developing a new handset, but that there was "no clear path to deliver it to customers".

History

2008 Google Developer Day in Japan - Andy Rubin

The company was established in

on November 9, 2015, by Android co-founder

, with funding from

Playground Global Playground Global is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in deep tech and assists startups with software, hardware, machine learning, marketing, talent and design. The company was founded in 2015 by Andy Rubin, Peter Barrett, Matt ...

. In December 2016, Brian Wallace, who left his occupation as

chief marketing officer A chief marketing officer (CMO), also called a global marketing officer or marketing director, or chief brand officer, is a corporate executive responsible for managing marketing activities in an organization. Whilst historically these titles may ...

for

Magic Leap Magic Leap, Inc. is an American technology company that released a head-mounted virtual retinal display, called ''Magic Leap One'', which superimposes 3D computer-generated imagery over real world objects, by "projecting a digital light field ...

a month prior, was reportedly working with Rubin. Trademarks with the 'Essential' brand name were also filed with the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alexa ...

that same month. In January 2017, it was reported that the new company was planning to unofficially reveal a smartphone. In March, Rubin released an image that teased the unannounced smartphone on his

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account. On May 25, the company teased a second image of the smartphone on its Twitter account. On May 30, the company announced both the smartphone, dubbed the

, and its

smart speaker A smart speaker is a type of loudspeaker and voice command device with an integrated virtual assistant that offers interactive actions and hands-free activation with the help of one "hot word" (or several "hot words"). Some smart speakers can a ...

, Essential Home. In August 2017, it was reported that

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

Tencent Tencent Holdings Ltd. () is a Chinese multinational technology and entertainment conglomerate and holding company headquartered in Shenzhen. It is one of the highest grossing multimedia companies in the world based on revenue. It is also the w ...

and

Foxconn Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Ltd., trading as Hon Hai Technology Group in China and Taiwan and Foxconn internationally, is a Taiwanese multinational electronics contract manufacturer established in 1974 with headquarters in Tucheng, New ...

have invested in Essential Products. In August 2017, the company was valued as a

unicorn The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...

. On May 25, 2018, the company cancelled its next flagship and was reported to be for sale. In December 2018, Essential acquired CloudMagic, owner of the mobile email app

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

. In October 2019, Essential teased an upcoming replacement for the PH-1 called the 'Gem'. This device would have a much more slender form factor than its predecessor, would rely mostly on voice control, and would utilize advanced AI for processing the voice control input. But, the new product never hit the market, as on February 12, 2020, the company announced that it was ceasing operations because there was "no clear way to deliver Gem'to customers". On February 17, 2021, the brand was bought by Carl Pei's Nothing Start up.

Products

Essential Phone

The Essential Phone is a phone introduced in 2017. The device is upgradable to

Android 10 Android 10 ( codenamed Android Q during development) is the tenth major release and the 17th version of the Android mobile operating system. It was first released as a developer preview on March 13, 2019, and was released publicly on Septembe ...

, and was only sold in the United States and Canada. The device will not receive any software updates, including security patches, after February 3, 2020, due to the company going out of business.

Newton Mail

In early 2019 Essential Products acquired CloudMagic, Inc., developers of the Newton Mail app, which shut down in September 2018. Newton Mail restored services shortly after being acquired. Newton shut down on April 30, 2020.

Undelivered Products

Project GEM was a prototype of a second phone developed by Essential Products Inc. It was announced in a company blog post on October 9, 2019 and cancelled three months later, on February 12, 2020, in coincidence with the shutdown of Essential. Essential Home was a planned

and

smart home hub A smart home hub, sometimes also referred to as a "smart hub", "gateway'", "bridge", "controller" or "coordinator", is a control center/centre for a smart home, and enables the components of a smart home to communicate and respond to each other via ...

running an Essential-designed operating system, named "Ambient OS". The device launch was planned for late 2017, however it never arrived on the market.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web, last1=Gurman, first1=Mark, last2=Bergen, first2=Mark, title=Andy Rubin Nears His Comeback, Complete With an 'Essential' Phone, url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/andy-rubin-nears-his-comeback-complete-with-an-essential-phone, website=Bloomberg.com, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170113215730/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-13/andy-rubin-nears-his-comeback-complete-with-an-essential-phone, archive-date=January 13, 2017, language=en, date=January 13, 2017, url-status=live {{cite web, title=Results Detail, url=https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/frmDetail.asp?CorpID=03841770, website=businessfilings.sos.ca.gov, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170530162256/https://businessfilings.sos.ca.gov/frmDetail.asp?CorpID=03841770, archive-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, date=February 11, 2016, url-status=live {{cite web, last1=Patel, first1=Nilay, title=This is the new Ambient OS, Essential's big bet to control your home, url=https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15711162/ambient-os-essential-home-andy-rubin, website=The Verge, access-date=May 30, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170530125739/https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/5/30/15711162/ambient-os-essential-home-andy-rubin, archive-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, date=May 30, 2017, url-status=live {{Cite web, url=https://www.essential.com/about, title=Essential {{! About Us, website=Essential, access-date=May 30, 2017, language=en, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531042356/https://www.essential.com/about, archive-date=May 31, 2017 {{Cite web, url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjjnVNXDLI, title=Andy Rubin, creator of Android, debuts his new Essential Phone | Code 2017, work=

Recode ''Recode'' (formerly ''Re/code'') is a technology news website that focused on the business of Silicon Valley. Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher founded it in January 2014, after they left Dow Jones and the similar website they had previously c ...

, others=Hosted by

Walt Mossberg Walter S. Mossberg (born March 27, 1947) is an American technology journalist and moderator. From 1991 through 2013, he was the principal technology columnist for ''The Wall Street Journal''. He also co-founded '' AllThingsD'', ''Recode'' a ...

, url-status=live, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170531124742/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCjjnVNXDLI, archive-date=May 31, 2017 {{cite web, last1=Balakrishnan, first1=Anita, title=Essential phone: Interview with Niccolo De Masi, url=https://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-interview-with-niccolo-de-masi.html, work=CNBC, access-date=July 21, 2017, archive-url=https://archive.today/20170721163942/http://www.cnbc.com/2017/05/30/essential-phone-interview-with-niccolo-de-masi.html, archive-date=July 21, 2017, url-status=live, language=en, date=May 30, 2017 2015 establishments in California American companies established in 2015 Companies based in Palo Alto, California Mobile phone manufacturers Technology companies based in the San Francisco Bay Area American companies disestablished in 2020 2020 disestablishments in California Defunct technology companies based in California