5 ms·

A classy phone not from a giant tech company or with questionable governmental ties? No forced bloatware? Fast, reliable updates? There's really no market fo

A classy phone not from a giant tech company or with questionable governmental ties? No forced bloatware? Fast, reliable updates? There's really no market for that? The market is stupid and wrong. This isn't a failure of technology. This is a failure of marketing and getting the message out.

andun 8y ago
Or maybe people don't care about being spied upon, getting updates, and don't even know what bloatware is.
- Steko 8y ago
  > people don't care about being spied upon Perhaps "sign in to google" isn't the bulletproof privacy phone some commenters are implying it is.
nine_k 8y ago
The market is there, of course! It just appears to be narrower that what's required to sustain a company like this, at least at the price point they chose. I can imagine such a phone as a no-compromises ultra-premium product for the select few who want utter privacy and safety, and would pay at e.g. the iPhone's price point for a comparable level of assurance. I can imagine such a phone at a low-end, cheaper segment for the privacy-conscious but not very well-off who could tolerate a number of compromises in features. At a mass-market segment it, unfortunately, did not seem to work too well, though.
- notyourday 8y ago
  It was overpriced. They sold what? 50k phones at about $500 a pop average before cutting the price to $350? That's $25m in revenue after raising $300m. They should have continued working on a line of phones. Instead they switched gears, dropped the price on a phone and started doing a fire sale.
  - radicaldreamer 8y ago
    It's kind of bizarre planning to bet the whole company one one product whose go-to-market strategy wasn't clear.
    - notyourday 8y ago
      If you decide you are going to be a smartphone company, after you do sufficiently well on your first phone you do not go and decide to go into the market of connected home.
paxys 8y ago
If a phone is fully running Google software, how is it any more secure or private to buy it from an unknown third party manufacturer than Google itself?
- Latteland 8y ago
  Basically all the android phones on the market today have a bunch of bloatware crapware or customized os on them. The ph-1 is pure android and works really well. At $400 with great battery life and 128gb it's an excellent deal. If only they had a headphone jack and wireless charging they'd have it all. It's fast enough, works well, every month they have an upgrade for security fixes.
rifung 8y ago
> A classy phone not from a giant tech company or with questionable governmental ties? No forced bloatware? Fast, reliable updates? There's really no market for that? The market is stupid and wrong. How is this a differentiator though? Besides the "not from a giant tech company" you get all those with a Pixel and you also get a great camera. Is there any reason to trust this random company over a big company? It's not like this is a nonprofit where they're donating their money to some noble cause.
nova22033 8y ago
>The market is stupid and wrong. The market can stay stupid longer than your 100 million lasts..

andun 8y ago

Or maybe people don't care about being spied upon, getting updates, and don't even know what bloatware is.

Steko 8y ago
> people don't care about being spied upon Perhaps "sign in to google" isn't the bulletproof privacy phone some commenters are implying it is.

nine_k 8y ago

The market is there, of course! It just appears to be narrower that what's required to sustain a company like this, at least at the price point they chose. I can imagine such a phone as a no-compromises ultra-premium product for the select few who want utter privacy and safety, and would pay at e.g. the iPhone's price point for a comparable level of assurance. I can imagine such a phone at a low-end, cheaper segment for the privacy-conscious but not very well-off who could tolerate a number of compromises in features. At a mass-market segment it, unfortunately, did not seem to work too well, though.

notyourday 8y ago
It was overpriced. They sold what? 50k phones at about $500 a pop average before cutting the price to $350? That's $25m in revenue after raising $300m. They should have continued working on a line of phones. Instead they switched gears, dropped the price on a phone and started doing a fire sale.
- radicaldreamer 8y ago
  It's kind of bizarre planning to bet the whole company one one product whose go-to-market strategy wasn't clear.
  - notyourday 8y ago
    If you decide you are going to be a smartphone company, after you do sufficiently well on your first phone you do not go and decide to go into the market of connected home.

paxys 8y ago

If a phone is fully running Google software, how is it any more secure or private to buy it from an unknown third party manufacturer than Google itself?

Latteland 8y ago
Basically all the android phones on the market today have a bunch of bloatware crapware or customized os on them. The ph-1 is pure android and works really well. At $400 with great battery life and 128gb it's an excellent deal. If only they had a headphone jack and wireless charging they'd have it all. It's fast enough, works well, every month they have an upgrade for security fixes.

rifung 8y ago

> A classy phone not from a giant tech company or with questionable governmental ties? No forced bloatware? Fast, reliable updates? There's really no market for that? The market is stupid and wrong. How is this a differentiator though? Besides the "not from a giant tech company" you get all those with a Pixel and you also get a great camera. Is there any reason to trust this random company over a big company? It's not like this is a nonprofit where they're donating their money to some noble cause.

nova22033 8y ago

>The market is stupid and wrong. The market can stay stupid longer than your 100 million lasts..