Talkland
TL 2

This analogue mobile phone, which worked on the ETACS network, was sold by UK service provider Talkland. It was manufactured for Talkland by Korean phone maker Maxon using one of Maxon's designs but with Talkland's own tooling. BT also had a variant of this design. The TL 2 was configured to work on the UK's Cellnet and Vodafone networks.  It was described as a "pocket sized high performance mobile phone" and provided up to 16 hours of standby time with a standard battery. The phone memory could store up to 80 names and numbers. Talkland made the decision to source an own-brand handset as there was a market-wide shortage of entry-level handsets from the leading brands so it made sense to go direct to a manufacturer. This was considered to be an innovative move at the time and Talkland was one of the first to go down this route. The team at Talkland met with a few manufacturers, including Kyocera, but decided on Maxon due to its competitive pricing and its lower minimum order quantity compared to others. Talkland ordered 5000 units which all sold. The phone was called the TL 2 as Talkland did not want people to think it was the first phone it had made. The company made no further phones. Phone dealers offering the device did not like it as it needed more selling than a branded alternative, but the margins were far higher (and therefore the subsidies required from Talkland and the network operators were lower) which allowed them to incentivise the channels to promote it. There were some RF performance issues with the first batch, but these were resolved. The TL 2 was discontinued largely because the shortage of affordable handsets ceased and the established phone makers were able to offer a consistent supply of cheaper models such as the NEC P100. This saw Talkland’s margin advantage narrow and it no longer needed an own-brand phone. The packaging for this device can be seen below: