Handset maker iMate closes, according to reports

The mobile phone company iMate has, according to reports, shut down.

The firm, based in the United Arab Emirates, made its name rebadging HTC-made Windows Mobile phones. In the early days of touch-screen Windows Mobile phones, iMate-branded versions were the primary alternative to buying such handsets through an operator.

Now, according to ITP.net, market sources have revealed the closure of the firm. Staff were told to take two months' unpaid leave last Wednesday, the story said, although they subsequently found out the next day that the company was permanently shut down.

The last handset to be announced by the company was the ruggedised 810F smartphone, unveiled at this year's Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Two years previously, the company also announced it was branching out into the HDTV business.