Brand name Sagem will disappear from the streets at the end of 2008. The phone manufacturer has been active at the European market since the beginning of the mobile time age as a producer of phones for the start section of the market. The brand name Sagem will vanish because Safran, owner of Sagem, stopped the mobile phone division at the end of July.
At the end of July, Sagem was taken over by investment company Sofinnova. The mobile phone division will go on under the wings of Sofinnova as an independent hardware distributor and will deliver OEM based hardware to other companies, which means that Sofinnova will produce devices for and under other brand names. For example, some Sony Ericsson devices are produced by Sofinnova. Furthermore, the company will produce devices for network operators, which will come to the market as branded versions (with the name of the carrier). In most cases this will concern devices for the start section of the market, such as prepaid phones. Besides the OEM production, Sofinnova will also focus on the development of new products and innovations for the mobile industry.
Because Safran Group has stopped Sagem the brand name Sagem will silently disappear from the market. Devices that are momentarily planned will partly come to the market under the Sagem brand and at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009 the brand name Sagem will disappear.
In a reaction, Sagem spokeswoman Marja Dieben told Mobile Phone Helpdesk that Sagem tries to keep the communication about the take-over as clear as possible and that Sagem tries to give a straight image of the strategy changes. There are hardly any changes for consumers with a Sagem phone. Everyone with a Sagem phone will still be able to get service and guarantee on their device.
