What's the deal with Audiovox / Pantech / Verizon / UTStarcom / Nokia brand?

[admin_mvu]

Many may wonder why the branding on these phones have gone from Audiovox to Pantech to Verizon to UTStarcom to Nokia.

Well, there is a long story behind it.

Audiovox used to be the brand that supplied Verizon by buying phones from Toshiba and Pantech, as Toshiba and Pantech did not have direct channel to Verizon and didn't have the service centers to support Verizon customers. (CDM-xxxx. CDM-8xxx were supplied by Pantech while CDM-9xxx were supplied by Toshiba)

Then, Audiovox was sold to UTStarcom, who makes their own brand of phones, but needed some phones from Pantech during the transition. That's why there are some Pantech made phones with UTStarcom brand name. Toshiba decided not to continue making Verizon phones.

Pantech decided to go build their own brand so there are several phones with Pantech brand (PN-xxx). But, later Pantech had pulled out as they realized how expensive it is to have brand name in US.

Nokia also had stopped making their own phones, so there are couple of models that were made by Pantech that carries Nokia brand. (Nokia 6215i and Nokia 6315i)

Everybody crystal clear?