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Solana Labs co-founder teases possibility of third mobile device
Last month , Solana Mobile ’s flagship web3 smartphone , the Saga , sell out . Last week the Solana Labs ’ subordinate launched its second headphone and catch over 40,000 preorders in less than a hebdomad . But the caller is not slowing down anytime shortly .
“ After Saga sell out , it find like there ’s an opportunity and the timing in the marketplace was right-hand , ” Anatoly Yakovenko , co - beginner of Solana Labs , said on TechCrunch’sChain Reaction podcast . “ The timing [ for the new phone ] worked out right around that moment . ”
And if the 2nd gadget is a succeeder , there will be a third phone launched later on on , Yakovenko suggest . Web3 peregrine speech sound are not a punchline , in other words , but a potential ontogenesis category .
But Solana Mobile ’s road to ontogeny was n’t an well-to-do one . Its first Saga handset did n’t see much demand when itlaunched mid-2023at $ 1,000 . It shortly lowered the price to $ 599 in light of light demand .
Saga ’s lot improved after crypto user notice the hound - centric memecoin BONK ’s decentralized app ( dApp ) provided Saga owners with 30 million of its tokens for complimentary , which was rate around the same price as the headphone at the clip . The Saga then sold out quickly .
“ I cogitate crypto was going through a hard bear market , and the Solana ecosystem was feel the worst of it , ” Yakovenko enounce . “ We were look for more devs to go to establish and I would say [ we were ] kind of in selection modality because during that chasm of despair you just need to survive until something like macro [ work the market ] around . ”
Even then , about 20 to 30 Saga devices were sold a day , which Yakovenko acknowledges was n’t a flock , but still showed interest from the blockchain ’s participants . Now , Saga ’s 20,000 units are sold out . In line , over 40,000 Chapter 2 Android - based web3 headphone have been preordered . The Chapter 2 gimmick is being sell at a $ 450 damage point , making it a cheaper , more accessible alternative compare to Saga , potentially assist its sales .
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The newfangled gadget being tawdry is not an accident . Flat - screen door tv once cost thousands of dollars when they first came to market place , but now someone can go to a store and get one for a couple hundred dollar . Every year , technology can become chinchy and have higher tone , Yakovenko argued . “ We ’re basically trying to build up a compelling gimmick at breakeven costs and at $ 450 I think we can execute that . ”
Buying frenzy for Solana Mobile ’s second phone drives preorders sky - gamey
Yakovenko hopes that if it can reach 25,000 to 50,000 users actively using the dApps through Solana Mobile ’s computer memory , then it can become a very compelling drug user base for labor and developers alike to build up for .
Solana Mobile ’s late success selling its new smartphone does n’t stand for that its business sector luck are guaranteed . “ I hope it ’s not a money pitfall , ” Yakovenko said . “ It ’s really , really hard to progress hardware , and I think we can break even , that ’s kind of my Bob Hope without accounting for engineering costs , but just within the equipment itself . ”
to hit that Deutschmark , Solana Mobile will have needed to sell over 250,000 unit annually , Yakovenko estimated . Then it can start thinking about the products as a profitable receipts stream , but the construction hardware , price and so on make it arduous to do that at the start .
But before that amount , Chapter 2 ’s target is to deal 100,000 units .
“ There ’s intelligibly demand from the crypto user base for this new gimmick and fresh program , ” Yakovenko say . If Solana Mobile ’s devices have 100,000 users , Yakovenko consider that drug user base as a stronger statistical distribution communication channel for dApps than through traditional app stores like Google or Apple .
Mission possible?
During the installment , Yakovenko reiterated his posture that one of Solana Mobile ’s bounteous mission is to go up against Google and Apple , something hepreviously share at Disrupt 2022 .
He said the current sound grocery store is very saturated and thinks there should be more competition , specially for dApps look to avoid the 20 % to 30 % tax Google and Apple implement through their app stores , severally . “ It ’s really intemperate to compete with those platform because they have such a lock in and distribution . ”
But when the middling phone user is buying something on their equipment , they are n’t move to grass around for the good monetary value for an in - game asset or other titular purchases ; they ’re going to buy what ’s in front of them . “ That ’s the gruelling part : giving those exploiter an incentive to go buy this machine , ” Yakovenko say .
Typically , it ’s a fairly hard mind-set to switch , but developers and crypto users are more potential to seek out those opportunities elsewhere in exchange for better monetization , rates and so on , he sound out .
Yakovenko questioned whether the smartphone could make incentives that were unassailable enough for a user to interchange their behaviour — and with the rewards given to Saga holders , it might be potential . Although it took a while for the Saga equipment to sell out , it had “ instant traction ” with developers , he add .
If there ’s a loop of developers building dApps and people have fun with those apps through the sound , then there ’s a snowball consequence , Yakovenko said . “ Then we can start to talk about how magnanimous is this distribution canal , [ can ] this gimmick personal credit line be good than breakeven and in reality be profitable and stuff like that . ”
But Yakovenko is a realist . “ There ’s a million ways for us to fail , ” he said . He compared Solana Mobile ’s demand to theDomino Effect meme , where one small domino hang and later create a massive effect on the others . But in this case , the BONK token airdrop is the slight domino and break the app store duopoly is the big domino , he added .
“ We really want to work up this open platform for developers that ’s crypto friendly , ” Yakovenko said . “ There ’s a huge opportunity to undersell the fee that both Google and Apple burster . ” As the market heats up in crypto , now is the time to “ move tight to capture the second , ” he add .
