Some time ago, we covered an article on the world’s very first “blockchain phone”, the Finney by Sirin Labs. Now it looks like we are going to have another blockchain based phone on the market, and this time by a well-known and major manufacturer, the HTC mobile company.
The phone known as the HTC Exodus is going to cost you somewhat near the thousand-dollar mark, but the phone’s only competitor, the Finney is also going to cost the same. Though this is just an expected price, while the real price which will be announced at the end of August may be different, one thing is sure: It won’t be cheap. As for the phone itself, it won’t be available anytime before the end of this year.
This is official news though, straight from the HTC’s Phil Chen himself in an interview. You can pre-order the phone also, in case you want to get your hands on it as soon as possible.
Coming to back to the purpose of the phone, “Blockchain” is a word much familiar with people who take or rather took interest in crypto-currency. Crypto-currency is still there and might live on forever. Therefore, for security purposes, Blockchain is one such technology employed by major crypto-currencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. With many crypto-exchanges getting hacked, along with cloud accounts compromised, thieves were able to loot millions in dollars. Therefore, to counter that exactly, this is what this blockchain based phone is for: To serve as a phone as a well as keeping your currency on it.
Hence, you shouldn’t really be set back the $1,000 figure, because in this case, you might be saving yourself from a security breach which could have cost you millions in losses. Besides, the Apple iPhone X was sold last year for more than a $1000, so it is not surprising for a phone these days to cross the mark, especially it is specifically designed to keep your hard-earned money safe.
Sadly, there is no word on what the exact specifications are, but surely, these won’t be anything less than your high-end flagship phone’s. The good thing is that the phone shall be available nearly worldwide, but except China as Chen himself commented. There is a whole another reason behind this as he said that,” China has different rules, everywhere from regulations to how Android even works in China.”
According to Chen’s vision himself, “We envision a phone where you hold your own keys, you own your own identity and data, and your phone is the hub.”
Though considering the financial status of the Taiwan-based mobile company it is rather hard to say if this was the right move for HTC. This is because the crypto-currency was on a high sometime back, and now it is rather going down again, and so is the need for block-chain based phones. Still, there are many out there who would want something which functions as both a smartphone to play games and meanwhile, being the most secure hardware wallet out there.
On the other hand, this might turn out in favor of HTC too, if people decide to buy the phone for its specialized feature. According to Will Stofega, who happens to be program director at IDC, “If this is the future and HTC has latched onto it first, then they’re ahead of everyone else. But the future comes when it comes and not when HTC needs it to come.”