The company also sells cell phones in Russia under the Highscreen name, a trademark used previously in the 1990s for its pan-European computer systems.

Vobis was founded in 1975 in Aachen as Vero GmbH by students Theo Lieven and Rainer Fraling.

Vero started as out as a division of Studienhilfe e.V., reselling study aids such as slide rules and calculators to fellow students on campus.

Vobis also expanded abroad and founded, among other divisions, branches in Austria, Poland, Belgium and France.

[1] In 1994, due to Microsoft delaying the release date of Windows 95, Vobis decided to pre-install IBM's OS/2 on all of their new PCs.

The Berlin entrepreneurs Jürgen Rakow and Jürgen Bochmann together acquired a 25-percent stake, plus one share, in the remaining Vobis company; Rakow had previously operated 33 branches as a franchisee under his operating company Vobis Micro Computer Franchise-Shop GmbH (VMCFS).

The company's focus shifted from selling complete PCs to individual parts as well as software and services.