EK Kozlov
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Fly Mobile

A London-founded phone brand that grew into one of the best-selling phone vendors in Russia, and was renamed F+ in 2019.

What they do

Fly made budget and mid-range mobile phones, from feature phones and dual-SIM handsets to Android smartphones, for markets that included Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.[1]

The company ran without its own factories. It sourced devices from manufacturers such as Bird and VK at first, later Lenovo, Toshiba, Mitsubishi and ASUS, and in 2008 bought the French design and R&D centre WIZ4COM.[1]

History

  • 2002: Meridian Group Ltd was founded in London by Indian, British and Canadian partners.[1]
  • 2003: The first three models went on sale: S288, S588 and S688.[1]
  • 2006: The brand positioned itself around Style, Technology and Functionality.[1]
  • 2007: A partnership with Opera put the Opera browser on Fly phones, and the first dual-active-SIM phones launched.[1]
  • 2008: Fly entered the top five phone brands in Russia, with strong positions in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.[1]
  • 2012: From September every Fly phone was dual-SIM. By full-year results Fly was the third-largest phone and smartphone vendor in Russia by units, ahead of LG.[1]
  • 2014: In the first quarter Fly ranked second in Russian smartphone sales, ahead of Apple and Nokia.[1]
  • 2015: Fly launched the Wileyfox sub-brand with Cyanogen OS and agreed to take over the Explay brand from Svyaznoy in exchange for equity.[1]
  • 2019: The brand was renamed F+ in August.[1]

Known for

  • Early dual-SIM phones, with the whole range dual-SIM from September 2012.[1]
  • Third-largest phone vendor in Russia by units in 2012.[1]
  • Second in Russian smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2014.[1]
  • The Opera browser on its phones from 2007.[1]
Selected models

Early feature phones (2003 to 2006)

S288, S588, S688, MX200 series, X3, X7, V25, Z300, Z400, VK series, SL series, MP series

Dual-SIM phones

DS100, DS150 XLife, MC170 DS, DS, E and MC series

Music and design phones

MC series, SX210, LX series including LX800 Sapphire, Ezzy line

Smartphones (2011 to 2017)

IQ440 Energie, IQ441 Radiance, IQ442 Miracle, ERA Nano, Energy, Style and Life lines, EVO Chic, Tornado, Cirrus, Nimbus, Stratus, Cumulus, Power Plus, IQ400W and IQ500W (Windows Phone), Life, Photo Pro and View Max lines

Later feature phones

TS series including the triple-SIM TS100, FF series, Flip, Slimline

Selected from the Helpix catalogue, which lists the full range by year.[2]

Sources

  1. Fplus, Wikipedia (Russian)
  2. Fly phone catalogue, Helpix