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HTC's blockchain-powered Exodus smartphone is a risky bet that needs to pay off
In May, HTC first announced that it was working on a blockchain-powered smartphone called the Exodus. The news came as one of the company's more intriguing projects after a poor start to the year. Last year, HTC shipped over 2 million products in Q1. This year, it shipped only 630,000 products in Q1, according to numbers from IDC.
HTC is in pretty poor shape after a round of layoffs last week where the company laid off 1,500 employees in Taiwan in hopes of becoming profitable. Sales in June were down 68 percent, according to the company. Its latest flagship, the U12 Plus, has received largely negative reviews over its odd solid-state buttons and software bugs.
It's a less than stellar time for blockchain, as well. Cryptocurrency prices are low, and last month, bitcoin was tied to price manipulation in a report from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.
Considering HTC's financial situation, there's a lot at stake with the Exodus phone. Now we have details from HTC's Phil Chen about when we can expect the phone to be released and an estimate on how much it might cost. Although Chen was vague on specifics, he told The Verge that we can expect the phone around the end of this year and we can expect a price announcement by the end of Q3. When I mentioned that the world's first blockchain-powered phone called Finney, created by Sirin Labs, costs $1000, Chen said the price of Exodus would be "comparable."
And it comes with CryptoKitties!
See also: Wikileaks breeds and sells Cryptokitties, gifts them to Trump and Clinton
Previously: HTC Announces a "Blockchain-Powered" Smartphone
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 12 2018, @04:48PM (2 children)
So ... what about HTC is the problem ?
I just read a list of rambling about touchscreen phones, which is so familiar my dad would have written it if it wasn't in English.
Do you have any specific reason to hate HTC more than you hate Samsung, Apple, or whoever made a phone since 2007 ?
My wife just replaced an HTC with a newer one, and I would really love it if she hated them and didn't spend so much damn time staring at them.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Thursday July 12 2018, @06:15PM (1 child)
Only owning two of them, compared to one Samsung (which I did say was even worse.) Oh and I've had tons of iphones shoved in my hands too. "You hate android, you must try this!"
They all suck. They combine actively customer-hostile software with hardware that is fundamentally unsuited to purpose. The differences are just in which specific insults and annoyances are attached on top of that.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday July 12 2018, @06:41PM
Way upthread:
OP > > [about HTC] They are not awful phones, but massively overpriced.
Arik> Being the unhappy owner of one, I can't agree. It's absolutely awful at every level
You might have needed, at that point, to declare your global hate of touchscreen phones (you're not alone)
The implication of your answer was that HTC deserved more scorn than other manufacturers, which is quite misleading.