According to a report in Canada’s Financial Post, Yota Devices, the makers of router equipment and the very interesting Yotaphone, is relocating from its original home base in Moscow to either Toronto or Waterloo, Ontario. The decision is unrelated to the current political climate in and regarding Russia, according to the article, but is prompted partly by the desire to tap the talent pool of current and former BlackBerry engineers in Canada.

The Yotaphone attracted attention before because of its eink back display, which is designed to combine with its front-facing LCD to provide a complete hybrid smartphone/ereader experience. So far, however, the device has not progressed much beyond proof of concept stage, and has been available only on a very limited basis in Middle Eastern markets, the Financial Post report explains. Whether the planned move will speed its progress to full availability remains to be seen, but the Financial Post also mentions that Yota Devices plans to raise up to $100 million of venture capital as part of the move, and potentially seek a Canadian stock exchange listing within a year.

The first iteration of the device, the Yotaphone 1, was apparently an indifferent performer with some issues of screen quality particularly on its back display. However, the Financial Post shows the far more elegant recent variant, dubbed the Yotaphone 2, which apparently is a considerable improvement in performance as well as design. It will be interesting to see how this is when it finally hits North American markets.

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