Netpliance spirals towards collapse

Netpliance, pioneer of the long-awaited net appliance I-opener internet access device, today slid from chaos into catastrophe as it sacked 54 per cent of its staff and lost co-founder Kent Savage a day after both its COO and vice president left.

The company has laid off 74 staff, leaving it with approximately 50 staff. A week ago, a buy-out and bail-out plan by a group of investors including John McHale, CEO of Netpliance, was abruptly dropped with no reason given, though the company had been threatened with shareholder suits if the deal went ahead. Netpliance developed and marketed the I-opener, a lightweight desktop device for surfing the web. Over its brief chequered life it was sold at a variety of prices between $99 to $299. The last of these was shipped last week. Last November the company cut its staff by 38 per cent - a total of 93 employees - and pulled out of the hardware business, saying it would concentrate on providing services to ISPs.