Neonode AB, a wholly-owned subsidiary of US-based Neonode, Inc., has filed a petition for bankruptcy in Sweden. The company, which has focused almost all of its efforts on pushing the now aged Neonode N2 since 2004, finally caved after looking so vulnerable in late July. According to Per Bystedt, CEO and Chairman of Neonode: "For the past six months we have focused on turning the business around and solving the financial situation of Neonode AB; we continue to have great belief in our technology and believe we have a competitive product in the Neonode N2 but without sufficient funds we cannot continue operations." No word of a revamped OS. No word of hardware tweaks. Nothing that sounds to us like they really want to survive in today's high-stakes handset market. At any rate, the parent company is hoping to trudge on as a technology licensing company, with or without Mr. N2.

[Via GeekZone]

From the outside, it has been easy to assume that everything was humming along nicely at Neonode's California / Sweden-based offices. Based on a recent open letter issued by the interim CEO and chairman Per Bystedt (not to mention the earnings report), that is indeed not at all the case. Neonode has failed at meeting guidance and anticipated sales for this year, with a number of things partially to blame. For starters, it admittedly tried to enter "too many markets, too fast," and a recall of the N2 surrounding "reception issues" didn't make things any better. Bystedt confessed to having just south of $3 million of his own money invested in the outfit, while he asked for other shareholders to be patient as he attempted to right the ship. Best of luck to ya -- we hear it's a pretty tough sector. [Warning: PDF read link]

[Via RCRWireless]

Wisely observing that black isn't for everyone, Neonode has pushed out its fleet of four N2 colors that we first saw back at CES: Lime, Azure, Rubine, and Roza. Translated, that's green, blue, red, and pink, which means there are now four exciting new ways that we can not have the N2 in the States. It's okay, Neonode, we know you're planning a launch here, take your time.

The N2 is a pretty funky fresh device to begin with, so it only makes sense that its buyers might like a palette to choose from. Indeed, the company is planning on rolling out four new colors for its diminutive smartphone, but if you think they're telling us what those colors are, think again -- they've only released PR stating that "details" on the colors will be announced next month. If we had to take a stab at it, we'd say that two of the four will be green and pink (albeit with fancier names, probably) since we saw them on display at CES, but the other two are anybody's guess. Personally, we'd like a nice shade of North American 3G; maybe we're asking a bit much.

[Via MobileBurn]

We've just gotten out of a meeting with Thomas Eriksson, co-founder and CTO of Neonode, and we've learned some very exciting information about the company's newest, as-yet-unannounced phones. We were shown designs of the mobile-maker's next lineup of devices, including an iPhone-esque model called "Earth" which has been confirmed for production (though Thomas insisted that some features and design would change, of course). The phone will feature a 2.9-inch, true 16:9 ratio infrared touchscreen (an updated version of the Neonode N2's touch surface), HSPA connectivity, and will operate on five separate frequency bands (a first as far as we can tell), allowing 3G use in both Europe and the US. However, the most interesting thing that we were shown was a live prototype of the company's latest OS, which blows the doors off of previous iterations. The new interface is a much more robust platform, featuring a homescreen made up of a number of small widget-like icons, all updating live with things like RSS feeds, phone logs, weather, and mail. The UI is still meant to be operated via one hand, though Thomas confirmed that the device would sport a virtual QWERTY keyboard, and would deliver more PIM / smartphone features than we've seen from them in the past. The design of the interface is still being tweaked, but it looks very contemporary to current and future phone OSs we've been seeing, with lots of nice shading and alpha layers. From the little we peeped, this platform could be a contender if handled correctly -- Thomas told us that Neonode had plans underway to partner with carriers in the US, so stay tuned to this space for more info.

It might be lagging a bit behind its European cousin, but Neonode is finally committing to bringing its N2 to the States in 2008. The finger-friendly touchscreen device is the follow-on to the N1 -- a phone that never even crossed the pond -- and features a 2 megapixel camera, expansion via a rather unusual miniSD slot, and mere GPRS data to ferry bytes down from the network. Without 3G or even EDGE, our excitement's tempered, but we're still curious to find out how it feels and functions in the hand. Look for availability and carrier agreements (yep, it sounds like someone will be officially offering this -- T-Mobile, perhaps?) to be announced in the second quarter.

[Thanks, Kristofer B.]

Granted, this whole unboxing process took a tad longer than we're used to, but considering the absence of an Apple logo and the fact that the folks in Greece likely roll with a bit more patience than we gizmo freaks here in North America, we won't grouse too much. Still, the first widespread unboxing pictures (and a video for good measure) of the highly anticipated Neonode N2 have officially hit the 'net just under a fortnight after the launch party in Athens, and we must say it's looking pretty good. From the well appointed packaging right down to the matte black outfit, the N2 is (finally) yours to witness (psst, the video is after the jump).

Read - Neonode N2 unboxing
Read - Neonode N2 unboxing, part II
Read - Neonode N2 Interface shots

Intelligently waiting until after the iPhone lived out its (first) 15 minutes of fame, Neonode has just now went and threw a launch party to celebrate the official debut of the Neonode N2. Yesterday, the firm went wild at the Babae Club in Athens, Greece as it celebrated with MyPhone (its distributor for south-eastern Europe) and announced that the handset would play nice with "operators such as Vodafone and Wind." Sadly, exact releases dates were obviously muddled through all the jumpin' and jivin' going on, but the N2 should be in "select shops in south-eastern Europe" very soon, with the rest of Europe and "other major markets" to follow suit shortly thereafter.

[Thanks, Sleepless]

Sick of the iPhone but like the whole touch-screen thing? Great, then you'll be happy to hear that the Neonode N2 is prepped for sale. Starting this summer, the phone that led the way for the iPhone (their words) will be up for grabs. No 3G or WiFi (or even EDGE) of course, and the launch will be limited to "south-eastern Europe," but hey, it's a start. Maybe we'll get a bit more info after the launch party in Athens (Greece, not Ohio).

[Thanks, Guillermo V.]

We had a chance to go hands-on with the Neonode N2 today while trippin' the floors of 3GSM. So how was it? Pretty sweet. Although lacking WiFi and 3G, the device felt excellent in the hand. Text input was a bit buggy but that touch-screen interface and long (theoretical) battery life will likely be a hit in whatever market the N2 ultimately reaches... someday.

We knew the announcement was coming, now here's the product: the Neonode N2. According to Neonode's 3GSM press release, "Apple's iPhone and several other manufactures" are just "following the lead set by Neonode." Of course, they are referring to their N1 which stuttered onto the scene back in 2004. Hyperbole aside, the quad-band GSM / GPRS N2 does look pretty sweet bringing MiniSD support to store your media, a 2 megapixel camera, and a 2-inch, 176 x 220, 65k color, and of course a touch-screen display all boxed up in a small 47x77x14.7-mm / 70-gram package. We'll try to get a hands-on of a working prototype from our crew in Barcelona later today. Until then, color us skeptics... we've been burned by our Neonode enthusiasm before.

Remember the Neonode N1 (and its modestly improved sibling, the N1m)? We had to wrack our brains for a second, but then we were all like, "Oh, Neonode! That sweet looking CE-based smartphone that just barely materialized in a couple European countries years after it was announced!" So apparently these guys are still in business (who knew?) and have some big, hot 'n heavy product announcement scheduled for 3GSM on February 12. Could this be the dual-mode device that Neonode hinted at nearly two years ago? We admit we're curious, despite the company delaying the N1 into oblivion and cursing it with a dual-band radio useless in the States. Don't let us down this time, guys and gals.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]