Kogan Agora Android phone launch "aborted"

Oz company pulls plug days away from debut

16 January 2009 12:41 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

The Kogan Agora has been delayed indefinitely. A blow to Australian (well, in fact all as international shipping was promised) Android fans, the company behind the phone has cited "potential future interoperability issues".

The phone got to pre-order stages, and was due to go on sale at the end of January, but Kogan has now pulled out of the launch of Agora and the Agora Pro, saying the handset needed to be redesigned.

"The Agora reached a very late stage of development, manufacturing had commenced and we were within days of shipping the product to customers. But it now seems certain the current Agora specifications will limit its compatibility or interoperability in the near future", the company's boss Ruslan Kogan said.

"One potential issue is that developers may create applications for the Android operating system at a higher resolution and screen size than the Agora provides in its current form".

Kogan said he would not elaborate any further or comment on the meeting, citing a strict non-disclosure agreement signed with Google.