Indiegogo suspends Frank Phone campaign

The Frank Phone, an Indiegogo project created by two young Ottawa entrepreneurs, has been suspended from the platform for a ‘Terms of Use’ violation.

The page where Mo Omer and Fahd Alhattab had been raising funds for a re-branded white-label device they were importing through Alibaba now reads:

“This campaign has been closed by Trust and Safety due to a violation of our Terms of Use. The campaign will no longer be accepting contributions, and the Campaign Owners no longer have access to the campaign.”

Omer, 17, told MobileSyrup when the pair first started the campaign that he was aiming to bring a device to market that was less needlessly expensive than most mid-range and premium handsets on the market by cutting out the middle man and purchasing direct from the manufacturer.

However, Omer and his partner were also accused by many of misrepresenting their involvement in the device’s creation process. In particular, some took issue with the fact that the Frank Phone website and campaign referred to Omer as the “creator” of the phone. In fact, he likely had little to do with the industrial design or development process of the device apart from selecting certain features from the manufacturer, ShenZhen Leegoog International Technology Co., Ltd.

Whether this issue is the cause of the suspension with Indiegogo is unclear, but what does seem likely is that Frank Phone won’t make it market.

MobileSyrup has reached out to the Frank Phone team and to Indiegogo for comment.

Source: Indiegogo Via: Android Police