World’s largest manufacturer of electronics for hire Foxconn Technology Group is planning to manufacture a blockchain phone called Finney from Sirin Labs. With it, users will store and use digital tokens without having to pay transaction fees. It also serves as a payment and exchange tool that you can use to exchange tokens for cash.
The first pre-order units, 25,000 in number, will ship in October. They will be available in eight new stores in crypto communities in crypto communities such as Vietnam and Turkey. It parks iris or fingerprint scans and an option of a traditional password as security features. So, you avoid the complex address and private key.
Additionally, you will have to press a physical switch to activate transactions and related services. All at the starting price of $1,000 although the company hopes to have the price down to $200. This may become to fruition after licensing of the technology to other phone manufacturers and suppliers.
The company is hoping for a deal with Huawei Technologies on this.
That is not all good news because what happens when the phone is lost? Again, users may expect some risks due to use of iris and fingerprint scans.
The blockchain phone will not only compete with hardware wallets but also other digital wallets. Chief Executive Officer of Sirin Labs said the phone would bring cryptocurrency world to the average user. Taking it to the phone markets will certainly make it more accessible given the popularity of this digital tool.
The plan is to ship a few million units this year then partner with mobile carriers.
The company raised $158 million in a December ICO in addition to a $70 million raised earlier for Finney.
However, this is not the world’s first blockchain phone. Zippie is also working on blockchain phones. Since it will start with a crypto wallet for users to store and manage crypto, then enable peer-to-peer financial services, storage, and messaging while retaining control of their identity, transactions, and data. It will have its own tokens Zippie (ZIPT) and completely separate from the mobile platforms. It aims to launch this year. The 10-person team with experience at Nokia and mobile OS firm Jolla.
BitVault also wants to expand its blockchain phone from military to masses. It was introduced at the July 2017 London Fintech week. It packs a host of features such as Dynamic Key Creation, Secure Calling, Secure Messaging, Secure Document Transfer and Secure Browsing and obviously, Cryptocurrency wallets (native wallets for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, EOT.).
Originally published at coinpedia.org
