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AT&T Discontinues the 'Facebook Phone'
HTC First Has Brief and Unsuccessful Life
AT&T is pulling the plug on selling the HTC First (aka the "Facebook phone") after the device failed to interest consumers. An anonymous source at AT&T tells the Boy Genius Report that the device is being discontinued by AT&T with all unsold stock being returned to HTC. Sales were so tepid that AT&T reduced the price to $0.99 just a month after the phone launched, and even that didn't attract buyers -- with just 15,000 units moved after the price cut around a week ago. It's unclear if the phone's rather mundane specs -- or the obnoxiously tight integration with Facebook -- were to blame for the phone's failings.
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gigahurtz
Premium Member
join:2001-10-20
USA

1 recommendation

gigahurtz

Premium Member

Facebook is not a brand people want to pay for.

Facebook is much better off refining their apps for Android/iPhone/Windows Phone and Blackberry. They are not brand recognizable enough to start a new craze in phones. This was a failure from the start and everyone knew it.
xenophon
join:2007-09-17

xenophon

Member

Re: Facebook is not a brand people want to pay for.

Yeah, Disney and ESPN tried it and failed. Phones are multi use devices. Nobody wants to tie it down to one brand. Just build a killer app for the major smartphones.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

FFH5

Premium Member

Re: Facebook is not a brand people want to pay for.

said by xenophon:

Yeah, Disney and ESPN tried it and failed. Phones are multi use devices. Nobody wants to tie it down to one brand. Just build a killer app for the major smartphones.

The Facebook Phone could be gotten as a standalone app for a number of recent smartphones. And nobody wanted it on their phone either. A phone where it was the default UI was a loser from the get go.

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK to gigahurtz

Premium Member

to gigahurtz
Exactly. Facebook can provide a UI or a launcher if they wish, but it just needs to be a consumer choice on their own device.

Myspace
@myvzw.com

Myspace

Anon

No

I rather pay $1000 for a phone that can't get facebook than a $1 FB phone. FB obsessed a-holes need to get a real life rather than take pics of their meals and post it.
openbox9
Premium Member
join:2004-01-26
71144

1 edit

openbox9

Premium Member

Re: No

Don't look at their pics. I don't get the Facebook thing, but I'm not going to knock other people for doing what appears to me to be a huge time suck. If they want to drown in Facebook and all of the issues that revolve around it, then they can have at it. As for paying $1K vs $1 for a phone, I doubt any rational consumer would go for that deal, including you.

As for this phone, yes, just about everyone thought it would be received with a "ho-hum" except for apparently Facebook and HTC. AT&T was probably hoping that the Facebook moniker would help move inventory and generate new subs. Facebook continues to push it's intrusive content further into people's faces. I get why, but I think it will eventually undo the brand and the company.

SysOp
join:2001-04-18
Atlanta, GA

4 edits

SysOp

Member

HTC Reddit Phone! For everything you don't say on facebook

I think with a new rom it's a nice phone . I always remove facebook apps from phones. For the price it has a nice screen. Good amount of ram and storage. And you know I like super ips over amoled. Here are the specs if anyone wants to check out the phone with or wihout face book. »m.gsmarena.com/htc_first ··· 5395.php

newview
Ex .. Ex .. Exactly
Premium Member
join:2001-10-01
Parsonsburg, MD

newview

Premium Member

The very first app I removed

... from my phone was Facebook.

Why the hell would anyone want a phone actually dedicated to Facebook intrusion?

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

I only have 38 friends on Facebook

I only have 38 friend on Facebook and they're all my buddies I went through school with. And being special needs I was bounced from school to school although most up us ended up at the same high school.

Some my friends are friends of my friends and I've known them back then.

I would rather have Facebook as an App on my iPhone as opposed to a dedicated device. If Facebook goes the way of MySpace, I would not want to be stuck in a 2 year contract with that device.

inteller
Sociopaths always win.
join:2003-12-08
Tulsa, OK

inteller

Member

Well people can stop bagging on Kin and Kin2

This phone takes the new crown for being pulled the fastest! What a total and abysmal flop!
i2Fuzzy
join:2009-02-25
Garland, TX

i2Fuzzy

Member

Just to point out...

This phone is mostly stock Android under the Facebook home screen. Install another launcher, and this phone is actually a really great mid-range phone without a lot of manufacturer bloat.
exRolmman
join:2010-02-11
Wilmington, NC

exRolmman

Member

Second time a "Facebook" phone has fizzled

Does anyone remember the AT&T phone that had a dedicated "blue" Facebook button?? It was the " Status " by HTC. Seems like AT&T and HTC would not repeat the past.

Anon5368558
@sbcglobal.net

Anon5368558

Anon

Also lack of publicity

I work selling cell phones and I didn't even know this phone existed until these announcements about it being killed off. Granted it's not a phone we sold in the AT&T section of our kiosk, but still.

wmcbrine
join:2002-12-30
Laurel, MD

wmcbrine

Member

Re: Also lack of publicity

It made the local TV news here, which to me suggests that they publicized it a lot... but the story just left me wondering "What's the point?". You take a phone, put a Facebook app on it, and then... what?

KrK
Heavy Artillery For The Little Guy
Premium Member
join:2000-01-17
Tulsa, OK

KrK

Premium Member

An opportunity exists.

Purchase the stock very cheaply, and put new ROM's on them and you have a decent phone for dirt cheap.