InPhonic was founded in 1999 by David A. Steinberg who resigned in 2007 due to poor debt management and decreasing revenues.

Its board of directors included former Vice-Presidential candidate Jack Kemp and technology/marketing guru John Sculley (of PepsiCo and Apple Computer fame).

Wireless carriers did business with InPhonic because acquiring a customer through the company can be less expensive than traditional marketing approaches designed to generate sales at a brick-and-mortar store.

The company's central online storefront, Wirefly.com, received a number of Internet awards, including Forbes magazine's "Best of the Web" for 2004 and Keynote System's "Best In Overall Customer Experience" in 2005.

In addition to operating Wirefly.com, InPhonic powered the technology platform and fulfillment system of 6,000 other private label cell phone sales Web sites.

[3] Related to the Chapter 11 petition, InPhonic agreed to sell substantially all of its assets to an affiliate of Philadelphia-based private equity firm Versa Capital.

InPhonic attributed its bankruptcy filing, in part, to a recent default under a prepetition credit agreement, as well as illiquidity and declining revenues caused by unprofitable marketing activities and an inability to maintain adequate inventory of the most popular wireless devices.

MSN, Yahoo!, Google, America Online, and Verizon all rank among the debtor’s top ten creditors.

In January 2008, Versa Capital announced that InPhonic's assets and infrastructure were being used to launch a new company named Simplexity.

Its partners included high-profile brands such as Radio Shack, Best Buy, Overstock.com, Buy.com and AOL; industry players like Cognigen Networks and Intelisys; and major U.S. carriers Verizon Wireless, Cingular, Sprint, T-Mobile, Alltel and others.