The Exodus smartphone from blockchain of HTC is a risky bet that must be paid

In May, HTC announced for the first time that it was working on a smartphone powered by a blockchain called Exodus. The news came as one of the most intriguing projects of the company after a bad start to the year. Last year, HTC shipped more than 2 million products in the first quarter. This year, it shipped only 630,000 products in the first quarter, according to IDC figures.

HTC is in very bad shape after a series of layoffs last week when the company fired 1,500 employees in Taiwan in the hope 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 about its odd buttons and software bugs.

This is also a less than historical moment for blockchain. Cryptocurrency prices are low, and last month, bitcoin was linked to price manipulation in a report from researchers at the University of Texas at Austin.

Given the financial situation of HTC, the Exodus phone is very much in the game. Now we have details of Phil Chen from HTC on when we can expect the phone to be released and an estimate on how much that could cost. Although Chen was vague about the details, he told The Verge that we can expect the phone by the end of this year and we can expect a price announcement at the end of the third quarter . When I mentioned that the world's first blockchain-powered phone called Finney, created by Sirin Labs, costs $ 1,000, Chen said that the price of Exodus would be "comparable".

Exodus will have global availability once released and Chen says, "I mean that it will be available permanently everywhere outside of China. " He explains that it will be more difficult to bring Exodus to China because "China has different rules,"

When Chen announced the Exodus phone in May, he said, "We are considering a phone where you hold your own keys, you own your own identity and your data, and your phone is the hub. "Now, Chen tells me that a phone where you can own your identity is a little further in the future , while the one that will arrive at the end of the year will be a phone with a portfolio and a partnership with CryptoKitties. Details on the specifications of the device are not yet available.

In the long run, he hopes to find a more efficient way of cryptocurrency mine on mobile, consulting "famous" experts under the use of HTC. Mobile mining will take time, but HTC is already studying the various consensus protocols that could allow this, and Chen says the company could publish a white paper this year with more details.

Image: CryptoKitties

Chen regards himself as the one who initially raised the idea of ​​a blockchain-powered phone to HTC's executives, after closely watching ethereum and the DAO since 2015. He has launched the idea, and at the end of last year, bitcoin prices were rising rapidly, the idea appeared more attractive to HTC and quickly became a strategy.

In early 2018, developers started working on coding. And "in March and April, it became clear that someone needed to handle this thing," says Chen. Someone was Chen, who was appointed decentralized chief, a nod to the emerging technology that he would oversee.

Over the past year, however, cryptocurrency mania has gone out and the frequency of cryptocurrency and hacking scams has become a tale of warning. A partnership to be the only company to introduce digital mobile chat trading and for users to hold their own cryptocurrency portfolios could potentially fall or at least appear in the category of scams and gadgets.

In response, Chen claims that the phone with a cryptocurrency wallet will be "the most secure hardware wallet." He also hopes that trading virtual cats will encourage players and people less familiar with cryptocurrency to try Exodus. phone. "The game is the most accessible thing on mobile for the non-crypto crowd," he says.

Image: HTC

Chen looks hoping that the Exodus phone will please . He would like a phone that will appeal to non-cryptocurrency enthusiasts, but he is also aiming for a "niche market", in his words, of 30 million bitcoin wallet users looking for "money". a device to access and manage their parts. But even companies like Google can not sell fantastic products like Pixel at this volume in a world dominated by Apple, Samsung and Chinese smartphones. And here is HTC betting on a niche device by design.

"It seems to me that they almost grab things that are not really there.Butchain does not make sense to many people," said Will Stofega, program director at IDC for Mobile and drones, The Verge . "With Exodus, [Chen] hopes that people will become each node, as each Exodus device will form a node in the blockchain. But the problem is, does anyone want to be in this chain? "

Over the past year, smartphone shipments have stagnated for most businesses, with China's Xiaomi being a rare exception." There are very few things that they can do now. The refresh cycle has slowed down. Everyone has pretty much a smartphone. For a new phone that requires everyone to buy it, "it must be real magic. It must be incredible. Stofega mentioned the folding phone patents of Samsung and other companies. "It sounds exciting, but I'm not sure it's good enough, it really adds value."

Still, Stofega said that the fact that technology giants in the smartphone industry like Apple and Samsung make a blockchain powered phone is auspicious for HTC. Making such a move first could pay off for HTC. And if there is anyone who can make a dismal business history, Phil Chen seems to be the guy. When I ask him about the recent layoffs of HTC, he says, "I think that means a change in the company's strategy, so I see it as a positive change: focus on what follows instead of keeping his legacy. "

A blockchain powered phone for HTC may not be a cheap gadget to raise money for a struggling company because the technology is not even there yet. "I think most of us would agree that blockchain and crypto are still very early." HTC management in Crypto is definitely an investment, saying that doing a crypto phone will help HTC stay in black or staying in the dark would not be correct since it's a very specialized market.This is definitely a view in the future. "

This is what makes the phone powered by HTC's blockchain a risky bet that could pay off. Stofega says, "If it's the future and HTC has taken it first, then it's ahead of everyone else, but the future comes when it comes and not when HTC needs it. "