This article is more than 1 year old

Manchester mobile software firm poised to go titsup

End of the line of EMCC software?

The future of EMCC Software Ltd seemed bleak yesterday evening with only a hold up at a senior creditor preventing the appointment of an insolvency practitioner.

The Manchester-based company closed its doors on Tuesday, paying off staff and shutting the office, sources told The Register. The firm's web site was still up as of last night and calls to the office are being met with an answerphone.

Companies facing insolvency are supposed to wait five days to allow the holder of any floating charge (normally a bank) the opportunity to veto or approve the directors' choice of insolvency practitioner.

That used to be a formality as the banks would generally give a verbal agreement, but UK banks are a little stressed at the moment which is delaying things for EMCC Software, among others, according to the company's accountants.

EMCC was set up ten years ago in proper British style with a couple of people working from home. By 2006 the company was employing 80 people and boasted significant deals with handset manufacturers to supply software.

Magpie was EMCC's ill-fated attempt to provide a single communication channel for on-device applications. Demonstrated in 2002 it was clearly ahead of its time, but also required broader buy-in that never materialised. More recently the company embraced the OMTP's BONDI standard for enabled widgets.

While officially a cross-platform developer, the company had a great deal of Symbian expertise, but for the moment it's impossible to tell if that was a factor in the demise of the company. Once the insolvency is formally announced we should get more details of what went wrong and why. ®

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like