MyPhone
 | |
 A MyPhone Store at the Festival Supermall | |
| Product type | Mobile phone |
|---|---|
| Owner | Solid Group Incorporated |
| Country | Philippines |
| Introduced | 2007 |
| Markets | Nationwide (Philippines) |
| Registered as a trademark in | Philippines (June 2007) |
| Ambassador(s) | Daniel Padilla,[1] Devon Seron |
| Tagline | "be inspired", "Tatak Pinoy, Tatak Matibay" |
| Website | www.myphone.com.ph |
MyPhone stylized as my|phone[2] is a Philippine mobile phone brand by Solid Group Incorporated, the local distributor of Sony Philippines.
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.[3]
In 2005, 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.[3]
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.[2][3][4] MyPhone became the first mobile phone brand in the country to have a dual active SIM feature.[5] The MyPhone brand grew into one of the primary part of Solid Group, accounting about half of the company's revenue as of 2011.[6][7]
Production and design
The mobile phones also includes pre-installed applications and features designed by Filipino software developers. MyPhone mobile phones are manufactured in the Philippines.[7]
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[8]
Issues
Trademark case v. Apple Inc.'s iPhone
Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Solid Group over the name of its MyPhone brand 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. in 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.[2]
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."[2]
References
- ↑ "Daniel Padilla - Brand Ambassador". MyPhone. Solid Group Inc. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 4 "Apple loses trademark case vs MyPhone". ABS-CBN News. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- 1 2 3 Bernardo-Lokin, Kim (19 October 2011). "Man Behind the Pinoy 'My/Phone' finds his rainbow". Newsflash (TIMES). Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Nieves, John (1 June 2015). "MyPhone Beats Apple in Local Trademark Battle". unbox.ph. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ "MyPhone: Proudly Pinoy-made". The Philippine Star. 22 August 2010. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Moran, Kathy (27 September 2009). "Myphone: lWala ka sa phone ko (MyPhone: Your phone is no match against mine)". The Philippine Star. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- 1 2 Gomez, Raquel (15 January 2015). "Pinoy phone holds own with sales of P2B". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
- ↑ Dela Paz, Chrisee Jalyssa (23 March 2015). "Philippines is third-largest market for smartphones in SE Asia -- IDC". BusinessWorld. Retrieved 16 July 2015.