Hello everyone. I hope all is well.
I am the person behind the Kaizen Devices brand, and I wanted to clarify a few things rather than leaving everyone in limbo. I have been suffering from a horrible shoulder injury for the past 10 weeks, so I have been basically rendered useless. I wanted to get in touch sooner, but I could not even sit up straight for a long time, unfortunately. Let alone type properly. 
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It is true that the Kaizen Devices brand was my take on building a consumer-facing website for the manufacturer - simply because I had been tasked as their European Liaison. I was asked to build a business plan, and given my background in branding, I chose to build it that way. The sole purpose of this was simply that, as a consumer-facing brand, it would be far easier to help with workflow and handling operations. It was also to showcase my skill set.
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I was very much interested in teaming/partnering up with a couple of people within the industry whom I look up to, and knew that a new target audience would be an exceptional opportunity for them. They also had the resources, I believe, to fund this project and turn it into a success.
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I was approached by KBC, a company that was looking to launch the exact phone, and our focus was on working together: while they focused on the North American market, I would focus on the Eurasian market - effectively being the same brand, just operating in different regions. I’ve spoken to the person behind KBC, and they are amazing, honestly - the only reason I backed out, and this is due to my own issues, is that I needed permission from my workplace at the time.
Secondly, it came to my attention that, unfortunately, the T9 device, which I thought was exceptional, but the exclusivity ended up being signed off to another person, from what I’ve been told. There was also some issues, as I was made aware by the founder of KBC, that another organisation that uses the same manufacturer had asked that the device not be shipped with the kosher software, and due to their leverage, the manufacturer had to comply with that request. I am still on great terms with the manufacturer, and hope to keep that relationship long term.
- The initial pre-orders for the device were actually refunded within 7 days, and this is partially due to my own reasoning. In contrast, I wanted to focus on doing a crowdfunding campaign, rather than the website orders, simply due to the organic reach of these platforms. Happy to share a screenshot of the refunds for transparency. I do not believe in keeping customer funds tied up. If I feel as if things aren’t going well or not up to my own standards, it’s your hard-earned money, and you deserve to have it back.
Btw, I want to point out that I actually had three samples at hand and was going to send one off to Jose Briones (really enjoy your reviews - think they are top-notch), but I wanted all my ducks in a row before reaching out. I still have those samples, but I don’t believe it’s of any use to send them out now due to the exclusivity issue.
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I was made aware of the fanfare around Kaizen, and I really appreciate everyone for the positivity. Honestly, I was not aware of how well it would be received. For that, I am truly grateful to all.
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When asked about a business plan, for the first device, I was actively looking into developing a phone brand three years ago when speaking to a dear friend of mine; however, having no idea about the industry, I felt I wasn’t ready for it. I am someone who focuses on long-term purpose, and when I saw the initial talk about a ban on social media coming into effect in Australia at the end of 2024, working on such a device was always at the back of my mind. I am someone who always focuses on doing things with purpose.
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After the initial device situation, I was honestly about to give up. I wanted to talk about this, however with the shoulder injury I wasn’t able to do so. FYI, never lie on your stomach while putting pressure on your shoulders - it might just move the bone forward. Ouch.
People who know me personally and have spoken to me, know that I am a huge QWERTY fanatic - I’m always advocating for all the QWERTY phones coming into the market. And given that I did not want to let down those who were ecstatic about Kaizen, I ventured off to find something I was passionate about and something that would resonate with others. The purpose remains the same: to reduce social media and our addiction to the digital world - this doesn’t mean I am against social media, not at all; I understand it is a source of livelihood for many ( I wanted to be a tech reviewer for a long time myself lol). My only concern is that I’ve seen the negative effects of it too on a person’s mental well-being, and I think we should have intentional phones where we can curb this addiction. Anyway, I’m very analytical - so I had to figure out what the audience wants, and how can I combine it with my passion - the answer? The Qwerty Flip form factor.
Now, I’ll be very transparent with you all. I’ve been working on it day and night, figuring out the pros and cons, the positives and negatives to it - and it does have a lot of downside currently as it’s an intial prototype, and not a complete sample. There are also some issues with the physical look, the keyboard itself, and the software too. So I’ve been speaking to the manufacturer to fix the issues I’ve found so far and find solutions to them.
Now I will be very honest, I was hoping to find the right investors/partners/funding to get this all off the ground in a timely manner but unfortunately there have been a lot of setbacks in my personal life (not looking for sympathy, being transparent once again). And at the moment I’m not sure how to move forward, unfortunately. A part of me wants to start taking pre-orders/crowdfunding to get this moving again in the right direction - but another part of me thinks I’ve let the community down with my first attempt and that I do not deserve a second chance at this.
For what it is worth, I’ve seen what Commodore are trying to do, and I love the device; however, I also feel like a QWERTY flip factor appeals more to the masses, and given the transition from slab phones, a QWERTY layout has less friction when transitioning, while still being able to do things with the current screen size on the device I have.
As it stands, if I were to meet the quota for this, or get the appropriate funding beforehand, I’d be able to bring this to market by Q1 2027 hopefully.
Anyway, this is my first venture into the smartphone industry, and I’ve had many hiccups along the way - but I’m someone who doesn’t give up. Whether it be successful or not, who knows, but if I don’t try, I won’t know.
Now I unfortunately only have one engineering sample, without all the bells and whistles at the moment, and I would be more than happy to have a reviewer come to me to have a look, just so they know I’m not trying to pull a fast one on anyone. I could do a review myself too.
Like I said, there’s a lot to be perfected with this form factor, and I do believe I’m in the right place and have worked with it enough to understand what needs to change for a far better experience than you can currently have. I will say this, though: having used different form factors, this one really does stand out, and this is not me being biased.
Sorry for the long-ish post - I wanted to be transparent and clarify any misunderstandings. I think I owe it to the community. I’m one person, without a team, doing everything myself - from marketing, branding, product positioning, testing, networking, logistics, and a lot more- all while still having an extremely painful shoulder injury.
I’m currently severely sleep-deprived and on pain medication and might not have covered everything, but if you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. I enjoy being transparent, honest, and upfront with others.
