Brian Wallace, who has been serving as the vice president of marketing at Essential, has left his post at the company that Android creator Andy Rubin established. Wallace’s resignation comes as a bit of a surprise since the firm officially took the veil off its upcoming phone less than two months ago. That being said, Essential has yet to ship its product to customers who pre-ordered the $699 handset. The Essential PH-1 was originally slated to be shipped last month, according to Rubin himself, but that did not happen due to unknown reasons. Now, with the departure of another key executive which came shortly after communications chief Andy Fouché also left the Palo Alto, California-based original equipment manufacturer (OEM), the firm’s prospects may be facing issues.
Wallace immediately joined i.am+ as the chief marketing officer after leaving Essential. The company is founded by musician Will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas and is focused on creating wearable products that merge fashion and technology. Prior to joining Essential last December, Wallace served as a marketing executive at Magic Leap, an augmented reality startup. Wallace was also an employee at Samsung, where he helped the company’s effort to expand its mobile business in the United States through the “Next Big Thing” marketing campaign.
It remains to be seen how Wallace’s resignation will affect the future launch of the Essential PH-1 given his vast experience in the industry that would have likely helped the Californian startup promote its first consumer-oriented offering. The device was originally unveiled by Mr. Rubin in May, boasting a nearly bezel-less design and a 5.71-inch Quad HD display with a resolution of 2460 by 1312 pixels, the Snapdragon 835 system-on-chip (SoC), 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of internal flash memory which isn’t expandable. The smartphone also boasts a dual 13-megapixel camera on the back and an 8-megapixel front shooter. The Essential PH-1 is powered by a 3,040mAh battery which isn’t removable and one of its hallmark features is the placement of its front camera that’s surrounded by the phone’s display panel, resulting in a visually unique device. More details on the availability of the smartphone should follow in the coming weeks.