Product type Mobile phone Markets Philippines, Hong Kong | Country Philippines | |
Owner MySolid Technologies & Devices Corp. Introduced 2007 (Local Phone Brand)
2016 (The Multimedia Company) Registered as a trademark in Philippines (June 2007) | ||
MyPhone (stylized as my|phone) is a Philippine mobile phone brand and multimedia company by MySolid Technologies & Devices Corp. of Solid Group Incorporated.
Contents
History
Solid Group Inc., incorporated as United Paracale Mining Co. on October 9, 1933 and renamed to its current name in June 1996, is the company behind the MyPhone brand. The group owns the brand through MySolid Technologies and Devices Corporation.
In 2010, the father of Solid Group's CEO, David Lim owned a mobile phone manufacturer which makes phones branded as "Amoy Solid". His father tasked his younger brother Jason to help sell the product due to being good in working with electronic gadgets in the Lim family. According to David, the Amoy Solid won't make much sales in the Philippines and remarked that “Just from the way it (the brand) sounds, nobody wanted it,”, He however took note of the phones' dual sim feature and suggested to rename the brand. Amoy Solid is rebranded as My|Phone.
Solid Group applied for the registration of the MyPhone brand with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on June 25, 2007. The brand was first introduced to the market by Solid Group in September 2007. MyPhone became the first mobile phone brand in the country to have a dual active SIM feature. The MyPhone brand grew into one of the primary part of Solid Group, accounting about half of the company's revenue as of 2011.
On May 18, 2016, They launch a Digital TV Smartphone Built in ISDB-T chip. MyPhone became third local phone brand with DTV built in Smartphone.
Multimedia company
On November 7, 2016, MyPhone became a Multimedia company. With the increasing demand and engagement with smartphones in the country, the Filipino mobile phone brand MyPhone steps up the game for the mobile devices and introduced the new MyPhone Multimedia company which can provide contents and services using MyPhone devices as a new platform for services and many more.
Production and design
The MyPhone mobile phones are manufactured in China, and all DTV smartphone lineup are all-Google certified Android™ Marshmallow System
Pre-installed Apps
MyPhone mobile phones also includes pre-installed applications and features designed by Filipino software developers like Creative Hot House.
The most popular application pre-installed in MyPhone mobile phones is the Pinoy app contains 8 featured types of pinoy favorites and 2 free Pinoy and Faith category .
Agila Rewards
MyPhone announced the released of AGILA Rewards, the first ever lock screen advertising application that allow brands and businesses to set up on this new platform and at the same time rewards its users with prizes.A vailable only on Android users
my|digital tv app
Digital TV app is exclusively available and pre-installed in all MyPhone DTV smartphone lineup
Market share
In a study made by International Data Corporation, MyPhone is the third biggest brand in the Philippines in terms of unit shipments in 2014 In June 2016, MyPhone identifies at least 50 mobile phone brands in the Philippine market.
MyPhone is also distributed in Hong Kong to cater to Overseas Filipino Workers in the Chinese territory.
Trademark case v. Apple Inc.'s iPhone
Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Solid Group over the MyPhone name claiming that "MyPhone" is "confusingly similar" to its iPhone brand and that it would "likely to deceive or cause confusion." The Philippine Intellectual Property Office (IPO) dismissed the case filed by Apple Inc. on May 19, 2015 stating that while both brand are similarly named by using the word "phone", the word in question is not sufficient grounds in causing confusing between the two brands and noted that "phone" is a generic term used to describe mobile phones.
IPO director Nathaniel Arevalo, criticized Apple Inc.'s move describing it as "a case of a giant trying to claim more territory than what it is entitled to, to the great prejudice of a local "Pinoy Phone" merchant who has managed to obtain a significant foothold in the mobile phone market through the marketing and sale of innovative products under a very distinctive trademark."