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Facebook Home Flagship Phone, HTC First, May Be Discontinued

zacharye writes "The HTC First, or 'Facebook phone' as many prefer to call it, is officially a flop. It certainly wasn't a good sign when AT&T dropped the price of HTC's First to $0.99 just one month after its debut, and now BGR has confirmed that HTC and Facebook's little experiment is nearing its end. BGR has learned from a trusted source that sales of the HTC First have been shockingly bad. So bad, in fact, that AT&T has already decided to discontinue the phone. Our source at AT&T has confirmed that the HTC First, which is the first smartphone to ship with Facebook Home pre-installed, will soon be discontinued and unsold inventory will be returned to HTC. How much unsold inventory is there? We don’t have an exact figure, but things aren’t looking good. According to our source, AT&T sold fewer than 15,000 units nationwide through last week when the phone’s price was slashed to $0.99."

5 of 192 comments (clear)

  1. Misread their market. by HornWumpus · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They should have charged extra and made them sign up for a waiting list.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  2. Is Facebook a Toxic Brand? by dcollins · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Facebook phone flops like few phones have ever flopped. Zuckerberg's lobbying group is collapsing like few lobbying groups have ever collapsed (http://techcrunch.com/2013/05/12/why-zuckerbergs-lobby-fwd-is-collapsing-like-a-house-of-cards-outside-of-dc/).

    Many of us are stuck with Facebook due its powerful networking effects (much like AT&T in the old days). But still the FB brand is renowned as being member-abusive, terrible about privacy, cavalier about interface changes and wiping out settings, etc. Perhaps this is a sign that few people are interested in letting FB expand its grip on their lives.

    --
    We know where leadership by an anti-intellectual "strongman" who scapegoats minorities and likes boisterous rallies goes
  3. Facebook better learn... by nick357 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...the ONLY reason they have the number of users that they do is because everyone's friends are on Facebook.

    People do not like Facebook. They hate the lack of security, the constant changing of format, the increasingly annoying advertising, etc, etc, etc.

    One day (and I believe it will be soon), a viable alternative will appear and their collective mass of users will leave practically overnight.

    No one loves Facebook. Its not cool. Its just where everyone is hanging until something better comes along.

  4. Re:Unbelievable. by WillKemp · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Everybody hates Facebook - they only use it because everyone else does and they have to use it to keep in touch.

  5. Re:Use some logic, dude. by citylivin · · Score: 5, Interesting

    "Everybody hates it and everybody uses it? That doesn't make any sense."

    OIL, Coal, Microsoft Windows, inkjet printers, Fiat Currencies, cable television, pop with glucose/fructose. There are lots of things that people don't like, but merely put up with because they do not have (or perceive to have) a better alternative.

    --
    As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy