From the brink of an IPO to the brink of mass layoffs, Modu appears to be in deep trouble. The Israel-based company, known for building very tiny, very quirky phones, has turned its back on a recent IPO attempt. According to Israeli financial paper Calcalist, there was simply no interest in the company. Instead, CEO Dov Moran said Modu would be forced to let go of most of its staff. “My heart hurts but [I] had no choice,” Moran told Calcalist. The company currently employs 130 people but only a few dozen will remain on board to sell the company’s current cell phone models. Moran did not state whether or not the company should release its recently-announced Modu W, a small Android-based device that uses Wi-Fi to make cheap VoIP calls rather than sending voice calls over cellular networks.
