MagCom

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MagCom was a manufacturer of cellular GSM handsets, located in Oslo, Norway.

The company's single product was the tri-band MagCom cellular phone, on sale from April 2001, until the company declared bankruptcy on August 10, 2001.

In the months before the phone became available for purchase, most of the major IT-related media were ecstatic about the new phone, extensively hyping it. Some publications even claiming it would revolutionize the industry. When the phone finally became available for sale, it had already been delayed 12 months. Due to this, expectations had grown even higher, and much was expected in terms of functionality and technology. The phone rapidly proved a great disappointment, as it had a price of approximately NOK 8000 (around $1200 USD), but came without support for GPRS, HSCSD or Bluetooth. It also had several serious software bugs, including one in the WAPreader which preventing users from reading WAP pages. In addition, the design was attractive, but regarded as clumsy by many users due to the need for a large antenna in a time when most cellular phones used an internal antenna.

Although several software updates were released, sales remained low, resulting in financial problems for the company. Even releasing information about an upcoming new and improved model failed to help the company secure additional financial support. This resulted in the production being stopped early in August 2001, and the company declaring bankruptcy just a week later. MagCom was later bought by the Norwegian company Q-Free.