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Ruthless Logic is Revolutionary

30/11/2013

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Talking about Smartphones and Customers with Kazam  

Earlier this month, London-based smartphone company Kazam announced seven new Android handsets. That’s pretty impressive… and is an even more noteworthy feat when you consider the company didn’t even exist at the beginning of the year.

Kazam was founded by Michael Coombes and James Atkins, who’d previously both held senior roles at HTC UK and Ireland. Michael is now Kazam’s CEO, while James is Chief Marketing Officer.

To learn more about Kazam and its plans for the future, I met up with James Atkins last week. Before we started talking, he handed me his own phone — one of the mid-range Kazam devices — and I admitted to being pleasantly surprised. A soft-touch back cover and decent screen resolution gave the impression of a premium handset. Okay, so that’s hardly a long-term test but this first glance certainly implied higher quality than the price tag might suggest. Even the top-spec handset is expected to sell for under £200 SIM-free.

So how did James end up co-founding a mobile phone business?

“It starts when you’ve had a beer or two and you’re putting the world to rights. You know, ‘we could do this better’, ‘if we did it our way…’. It became frustrating seeing opportunities and, as a brand, not being able to take advantage of them. We’re beating someone else’s drum, essentially. And so after having that conversation a number of times, we thought ‘well, we can sit around and say this for the rest of our lives — or we could actually do it’. So we decided to do it.”

And how did they manage to set it up?

“A lot of it’s down to strategy. It’s recognising what your strengths are but also recognising what your limitations are. For us, we knew we had to get exceptional people on board. I don’t know how to sell product in Poland, for example. We need to play to our strengths — we’re good at developing product, we’re good at producing product — but not trying to own everything ourselves. We outsource where we can.”

Around fifty people now work directly for Kazam, with another 300-400 employed by outsourced partners. Manufacturing is one of those areas that’s been outsourced.

“That’s something we shouldn’t be shy about saying. For Kazam, it’s about identifying the right product for the right consumer. We don’t believe one size fits all. If we were to produce in-house or set up our own factories, we’re then constrained by our own capabilities. As it stands, we have the flexibility of the market. What’s important is that you have really robust product testing and quality assurance processes in place. And that’s something we wouldn’t outsource. If we launch a load of devices and they don’t work, we’re not going to be around for very long.”

Although James didn’t want to reveal the names of the manufacturers he’s working with — or details of the private equity partners who provided Kazam’s start-up funding — he insisted that the smartphones weren’t merely rebranded white-label products.

“I would say it’s a hybrid. We have internal R&D: we can develop hardware and we can develop software. But if it’s right for the market and there’s an off-the-shelf product, why would we change it? If it’s nearly right, what we typically do is say ‘we need to change this’. So it’s a combination of lots of things.”

Asking whether the phones run stock Android — they do — prompted a glimpse into the ethos of Kazam.

“We talk about ‘ruthless logic is revolutionary’. It’s sort-of an internal mantra. There’s a lot to be said for commonsense and not over-complicating things. ‘Simple’ is the ultimate refinement. A few years ago maybe it was necessary to refine the Android operating system. I think Android has become so good now, a lot of the skins are not necessarily enhancing it. If you read the forums, I think some people would suggest the opposite is happening.”

HTC, of course, has its own high-profile ‘HTC Sense’ user interface for Android devices. I bit my tongue at this point and asked James whether Kazam’s focus on the consumer — a simple UI, a promise to replace broken screens, a support service that can ‘take over’ a customer’s phone to solve problems — was filling a gap in the mobile industry.

“I think it’s lacking at the moment. At the moment we’re innovating in a customer support environment but we’re not trying to carve that niche out of the market. What we are doing as a brand is looking at the end-to-end value chain and saying ‘where are the opportunities to innovate in an area that is not just pixels and processors?’ What’s important is that we’re trying to innovate the complete proposition and not just the device.”

First published on The Fonecast November 2013.


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Brian James

1/11/2013

 
The Damned's pioneer of punk

The guitarist who wrote the UK’s first punk rock single isn’t showing any signs of stopping. “Nah. Why? There’s always songs buzzing round your head. You just wanna get them out and then more songs come along. It’s like breathing.”

Back in 1976, Brian James got together with drummer Rat Scabies to form The Damned with Captain Sensible and Dave Vanian. Later came a variety of projects, including a world tour with Iggy Pop and the creation of supergroup The Lords of the New Church as well as recording with Stuart Copeland and Clem Burke.

I asked whether all this change had been a deliberate choice. “It just works out that way. Like with the punk thing, each band had their own style. But when anything starts becoming popular, business starts taking it over. You have other bands coming along, just copying the first bands. Once the clothes become a uniform, I wanna do something different.”

“I can’t be stuck with the same four people because there comes a time when you’ve used things up. I’m not opposed to having a regular line-up but I’ll always drift off to play with players who I think are going to inspire me.”

Brian’s current band is simply called The Brian James Gang. Does this mean he’s now the boss?

“I write the songs. I call the shots. I take the blame. I’ve got to the age now where I’m not willing to give into other people’s demands too much. For instance, I’m recording an album at the moment and there are three drummers on it. I like to use the right musician for the job, really.”

A few years ago Brian moved to the south coast, thanks in part to the enthusiasm of former bandmate and Brighton resident Captain Sensible. Is he a fan of any local bands?

“There are some interesting players about. There’s no particular bands I’d say ‘That band is fantastic’ except for the Prinzhorn Dance School, who are playing with us in Lewes. I found myself being a kind-of mentor to singer Tobin Prinz. He met Suzi Horn and they’ve gone from strength to strength. You can’t really describe any music — it’s in the ear of the beholder — but they’re something different. That’s the reason they’re playing with us.”

So what should we expect in Lewes?

“A bit of fun, a bit of rock ‘n’ roll. I’m going to do a few acoustic numbers with pianist Mark Taylor. After that, the Prinzhorn Dance School are going to come on and play some songs. Then I’m going to come on with The Brian James Gang and make one hell of a row.”

Definitely no sign of stopping.

The Brian James Gang and Prinzhorn Dance School play Lewes Con Club at 8pm on November 22, 2013. Promoted by Lewes Musical Express.

First published in Viva Lewes magazine issue 86 November 2013.



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